Orioles make MLB history with back-to-back 13-0 wins over Indians; Cashner dominates

BALTIMORE—A night after the Orioles broke out of their funk with a stunning 13-0 win over the Cleveland Indians, they did it again.

Sparked by a six-run fourth inning and the pitching of Andrew Cashner, the Orioles duplicated their Friday success against the Indians with another 13-0 win on Saturday.

According to STATS, the Orioles are the first team in Major League Baseball history to record consecutive shutout wins of at least 13 runs.

The six-run fourth, which included home runs by Anthony Santander and a two-run shot by Renato Nunez, equaled the Orioles’ biggest inning of the season. Santander and Chance Sisco are 9-for-18 with four home runs and 12 RBIs in the two games.

Sisco hit a two-run home run, his fourth and his second in as many games, in the sixth. Nunez hit his 18^th in the seventh against Mike Freeman, a third baseman whom manager Terry Francona turned to in desperation.

Nunez had four RBIs. Trey Mancini, who could be named to the American League All-Star team on Sunday, had three hits and three RBIs.

With the win, the Orioles won two straight games for the first time since May 4-6 and won their first series since April 22-24. They hadn’t won a  series since April 22-24, a streak of 18.

They recorded their first back-to-back shutouts since September 2-3, 2016. The Orioles are 24-58 and 11-30 at home.

“I thought we had a couple week stretch where we took our lumps and didn’t play our best baseball,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “To watch Chance Sisco develop. … He’s a young catcher that just caught back-to-back shutouts against the Cleveland Indians, a playoff club, That says a lot.

“Tony Santander, the way he’s swinging the bat, Nunie, obviously two homers. There’s just really good stuff from our young players the last two days. Yeah, I think we’re fun to watch.”

Cashner’s day: Andrew Cashner pitched seven scoreless innings. He allowed just three hits, walked one and struck out six. It matched his longest start of the season.

“Early in the game I thought it was fastball/changeup, but once we got in the game and guys were swinging the bats really well and kind of blew it open, they kind of are handcuffed and have to take a pitch,” Cashner said.

“I was trying to throw it down the middle. After that long inning, a leadoff walk, that’s one of those things you can’t do, but I trust my stuff and was able to get the double play after that. I thought it was one of the best changeups I’ve had this season.”

About a half-hour before the start of the game, it was announced that Shawn Armstrong would start, but after a rain delay and much speculation, Cashner was again announced as the starter.

“We figured it was going to rain between 45 minutes to an hour,” Hyde said. “We just didn’t feel like we wanted to burn Cashner if we knew it was going to rain in an hour, or less. So, we switched to Armstrong who we thought could go a couple of innings, anticipated the rain possibly coming and was going to pitch Cashner after that and fortunately we got a delay to start the game and was able to pitch Cashner.”

Cashner, whose record is 8-3, enjoyed the offensive support.

“Especially after last night, it’s kind of crazy,” Cashner said. “I don’t know how many runs we’ve scored in two days, [26], but these guys have been grinding in here and to see these guys swing the bats like they are is impressive.”

Hyde getting two strong starts in a row. John Means allowed just one hit in five innings on Friday.

“Means was phenomenal last night,” Hyde said. “I thought this was Cash’s best start of the season. His changeup was a plus-plus pitch against a mainly left-handed lineup, was able to locate his fastball and got a ton of groundballs to the right side off the left-handed hitters. Amazing job of changing speeds and his changeup was working in the zone and below …”

Eutaw Street century mark: Santander’s fourth-inning home run landed on Eutaw Street. It was the 100^th homer to land there in the 28 seasons of Oriole Park, which opened in 1992.

Sisco hit the Orioles’ first of the season on Friday night. It was the first time the Orioles hit Eutaw Street home runs on consecutive days since June 29 and 30, 2012, when Matt Wieters and Chris Davis did it. Davis is the overall leader with 12.

Of the 100 balls hit on Eutaw Street, 55 have been hit by visitors.

Harvey to Triple-A: For the first time in his professional career, Hunter Harvey will pitch in Triple-A. Harvey was moved from Double-A Bowie to Norfolk.

Since Harvey, the Orioles’ top pick in the 2013 draft was moved to the bullpen by the Baysox, he has allowed just one hit in nine innings, walked two and struck out 11.

Who starts Monday?: The Orioles haven’t named a starter for Monday’s game at Tampa Bay.

“We have some gaps to fill, and we’ll do that shortly,” Hyde said. “We’re looking at the whole organization and see what we’re going to do. We’re not sure as of right now.”

The Orioles have 39 players on the 40-man roster.

Jimmy Yacabonis started twice, and the now-injured Josh Rogers followed him. Hyde has indicated that he’d prefer not to start a reliever because that could affect the entire bullpen for a few days after the game.

Dylan Bundy and Means will start Tuesday and Wednesday.

Signing another: According to MLB.com’s Jim Callis, the Orioles have signed Stanford first baseman Andrew Daschbach, their 11^th-round pick, for a reported $250,000. They’ve signed their first 13 picks and 33 of 41 overall.

University of Pittsburgh pitcher Dan Hammer, drafted in the 13^th round, is the highest unsigned player. He was scouted by Nathan Showalter, son of former manager Buck Showalter.