Brandon Hyde ejected in first inning, then sloppy sixth costs Orioles in 4-3 loss to Indians for 16th straight road defeat

In a long season, there are ebbs and flows, Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said Monday afternoon, and a 15-game road losing streak is a flow the Orioles aren’t enjoying.

That’s why he was out of the dugout arguing what proved to be a pivotal call two batters into the game and eventually was ejected for it: The margins are fine, and this one swung another in his opponents’ favor.

Cleveland scored three times in a first inning that featured a replay-changed hit-by-pitch call on what would have been a third strike, and that big early inning helped dump the Orioles to a club-record 16th straight road loss in Cleveland on Monday.

Of course, the actual difference in the game was their own doing. Cleveland’s fourth run came in a sixth inning that began with an error on first baseman Ryan Mountcastle, putting leadoff man César Hernández on, a passed ball against Pedro Severino moving him to second, and a dropped foul ball by second baseman Stevie Wilkerson, extending the at-bat that ended in a run-scoring double by José Ramírez.

Orioles starting pitcher Dean Kremer settled in well after that 27-pitch first inning and went on to face the minimum from the second through the fifth when the Orioles unraveled in the sixth.

He struck out two in 5 2/3 innings, allowing four hits with a pair of strikeouts in his return from a second minor league assignment of the season. His ERA is down to 6.65.

Tyler Wells, who took over for the Ramírez at-bat, rebounded to strike out two in 1 2/3 innings without being charged with a run, continuing his scoreless June before a 1-2-3 eighth from Tanner Scott.

The Orioles scored twice on groundouts by DJ Stewart and Freddy Galvis in the fourth inning but managed just four hits all night, though they threatened late. Stewart walked to open the seventh and scored on a pinch-hit single by Maikel Franco, and Cedric Mullins walked to lead off the eighth and stole two bases to put himself on third, but Stewart struck out to leave him there.

Heave-ho for Hyde

Kremer allowed a leadoff single but thought he had a strikeout to the second batter of the game when replay ruled he hit Amed Rosario on what would have been a swinging third strike, and Hyde came out to argue before he was ejected by first base umpire Nestor Ceja.

Monday was Hyde’s sixth ejection as a manager and second of the season. His first came April 8 against the Boston Red Sox

All-Star update

The Orioles don’t have anyone ranking high in the first round of fan voting for the 2021 MLB All-Star Game, which will have a two-phase voting system this year.

The top three players at each position and the top nine outfielders will advance to a second vote, which will determine the starter. First baseman Trey Mancini is fifth with 5% of the vote at that position, while outfielder Cedric Mullins is 10th at his spot.