Orioles rout Nationals, 11-0, to end four-game losing streak
WASHINGTON — As the Orioles’ 11th and final run came around to score on a perfect Friday night at Nationals Park, third base coach Jose David Flores simply pointed the runner home instead of waving him around third base: he’d done that enough.
Smarting from a humiliating four-game sweep at the hands of a makeshift Miami Marlins club, the Orioles’ trip to face the World Series champion Washington Nationals proved to be the most unlikely panacea.
Their 11-0 win at Nationals Park, powered by four hits from shortstop Jose Iglesias, a three-run home run by Renato Nunez, and six shutout innings from Tommy Milone, snapped a four-game losing streak for the Orioles (6-7).
To play the kind of complete game they’d been lacking in that Marlins series, the Orioles had to start early. They scored once in the first inning on a double by Iglesias, but threatened for more.
Chris Davis and Austin Hays, each of whom were moved to the bottom of the lineup thanks to their early-season struggles, played a part in a two-run second inning, and Iglesias drove in another run in the fourth.
By then, Milone had all the support he’d needed. Things got hairy in the fourth inning when he loaded the bases, but a mound visit from pitching coach Doug Brocail did the trick. He got out of the inning with a ground ball on the next pitch.
That put Milone well on his way to six innings of three-hit, shutout baseball. He struggled on opening day in Boston, but now hasn’t allowed a run in his last two starts — both Orioles wins.
The Orioles chased starter Anibal Sanchez in the sixth inning, but didn’t let up on the Nationals’ bullpen. Nunez drove his third home run in two games into the Orioles’ bullpen in left-center field for a three-run home run in the sixth inning.
The fourth run that inning came on consecutive doubles by Dwight Smith Jr. and Pedro Severino, and the Orioles piled on three more runs in the eighth inning.
Their 19 hits were by far the most this season, and they only bested that total once in all of 2019 — on Aug. 30 at Kansas City. Rio Ruiz, in his return from missing five games with shoulder soreness, was the only starter not to get a hit.
Orioles All-Star left-hander John Means, who has been on the bereavement list since Wednesday, lost his father Wednesday night and has been back in Kansas City with his family.
Manager Brandon Hyde said he didn’t know when Means would return, with his spot in the rotation due up Sunday against the Washington Nationals.
“We’re going to give him the time he needs to be with his family, and we’ll just be communicating with him the next few days,” Hyde said. “But our hearts are heavy for him and his family for what they’re going through. We’re going to give him the time he needs.”
———
©2020 The Baltimore Sun
Visit The Baltimore Sun at www.baltimoresun.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
