There was bound to be a day under manager Buck Showalter when the Orioles showed little spark and were shut down by a pitcher they figured to handle.
Still, Thursday night screamed of a missed opportunity to win five straight games for the first time all season, to sweep their first three-game series in Cleveland since 1987 and to take another step toward securing their first winning road trip in 2010.
Veteran starter Kevin Millwood mostly did his part, allowing three runs over seven innings to continue the fine run by a resurgent rotation. However, the Orioles were shut down by youngster Jeanmar Gomez and two Indians relievers in a 4-1 loss before an announced 14,533 at Progressive Field.
Gomez, a 22-year-old making just his fourth big league start, allowed just one run and six hits in six-plus innings in improving to 3-0 this season. Left-handed specialist Rafael Perez retired all six batters he faced, and Chris Perez picked up his 14th save by pitching a perfect ninth inning.
The Orioles scored their only run on Ty Wigginton's RBI single in the sixth inning. After pounding out 13 hits in each of the first two games of the series, the Orioles (40-75) had only two men in scoring position Thursday night.
It was just the Orioles' second loss in 10 games under Showalter, and the first in which they never led. With a victory, Showalter would have tied Davey Johnson (1996) for the best 10-game start as manager for the Orioles. But for the fourth time this season, the Orioles failed to extend their winning streak to five games.
"Don't take it wrong, we wanted to win this game," said manager Buck Showalter, whose Orioles start a three-game series at the Tampa Bay Rays tonight. "We wanted to win all three, and we had an opportunity. We got a well-pitched game. I'm disappointed about that. We need to take better advantage of our at-bats. But obviously, we'll go against a good baseball team that's the right in the thick of it. It will be a pretty good barometer for us."
Millwood allowed single runs in the first and second inning before settling down to get through seven for the first time in 14 starts. He allowed nine hits, walked a batter and hit two in becoming the American League's first 12-game loser.
"We could have done a little better job of putting some [runs] up there on the board," Showalter said. "[Millwood] pitched well enough for us to win. That goes without saying. He gave us seven innings tonight, and that's the Kevin I remember. He kept us in the ballgame and didn't give in."
Millwood (2-12) was coming off perhaps his best start in three months as he held the Chicago White Sox to one run on four hits over six innings Saturday in a game that was eventually blown by the Orioles' bullpen.
One of the keys to Millwood's effort in that game was escaping the first inning unscathed, no small task for the veteran right-hander, who hadn't put up a zero in the first since June 30 until he did it against the White Sox. He entered Thursday night having allowed at least two first-inning runs in 11 of his past 13 starts. Overall, he had surrendered 34 first-inning runs during that span.
The Orioles' hope that Millwood had moved beyond the first-inning struggles after his last outing died Thursday night as he allowed singles to the first two batters he faced. Millwood did retire Shin-Soo Choo and Shelley Duncan before Trevor Crowe drove in the game's first run with an infield single. Shortstop Cesar Izturis fielded the ball cleanly in the hole, but first base umpire Brian O'Nora ruled that Crowe had beaten the throw, drawing a brief argument from Showalter.
Millwood allowed the first-inning run on three hits, though his early-game struggles didn't end there. Jason Donald led off the second with a single, and then Andy Marte lined a double down the left-field line, putting runners on second and third with no outs. Indians catcher Lou Marson hit a slow roller that rookie third baseman Josh Bell fielded, but he had no choice other than to take the out at first and allow the second run to score.
Millwood did well to keep the Orioles' deficit at two runs, retiring the dangerous Choo with runners on the corners and two outs.
"I thought we made some good pitches, just wasn't able to get out of the innings without giving up runs," Millwood said. "But to be able to keep both of those innings to one run, I felt like I'm at least keeping us in the ballgame right now."
He got out of the third inning on just seven pitches before stranding two runners in a scoreless fourth. However, he got himself into immediate trouble in the fifth, hitting Choo to start the inning. Crowe doubled over center fielder Adam Jones' head with one out to score Choo from first and give Cleveland (48-67) a 3-0 lead.
Meanwhile, the Orioles, who have averaged just 2.3 runs while Millwood has been on the mound, couldn't seem to figure out Gomez. After Nick Markakis' one-out single in the first inning, Gomez retired 13 straight batters. He didn't allow another base runner until Felix Pie's single with two outs in the fifth inning.
Matt Wieters followed Pie's hit with a single up the middle on a 3-0 pitch, but Gomez retired Izturis on a sinking liner that Michael Brantley caught in shallow center field to keep the shutout bid intact.
"We just didn't get it going," Jones said. "He had a good sinker. That's all he threw. He really didn't leave too much up. Basically, he threw his sinker all game and it was working for him. I wish we got the opportunity to see him again, but we don't. I feel if we got to see him again, we'd probably get him out of the game pretty early."
Bell started the sixth with a leadoff double to center field, and it appeared that Gomez would strand him as he got Brian Roberts to pop out and then struck out Markakis looking on an inside pitch that prompted the Oriole to exchange words with plate umpire Lance Barksdale on his way back to the dugout.
However, Wigginton ended Gomez's shutout bid with a sharp single to center that easily scored Bell and cut Cleveland's lead to 3-1.
jeff.zrebiec@baltsun.com