BALTIMORE — The Baltimore Orioles were never more than a run behind, but the clutch hit they needed to pull ahead of the Cleveland Guardians on Monday ultimately proved too elusive as they lost, 3-2, in their series opener.

Coming off a sweep by the Houston Astros, the Orioles have lost a season-high four games in a row.

Baltimore (49-28) exchanged a few early blows with the Guardians, who joined the New York Yankees as the only teams in the American League with more wins than Baltimore, before a go-ahead home run by José Ramírez off Cade Povich in the sixth inning turned out to be the difference. Heston Kjerstad collected hits in each of his first two at-bats in his return from the minor leagues while Ryan O’Hearn and Anthony Santander each collected an RBI, but the Orioles’ offense was held in check otherwise.

Povich racked up his pitch count early. He got ahead in the count against both of the first two batters faced but allowed them to reach on a single and walk. Ramírez took advantage by hitting an RBI single up the middle and the Guardians scored again the following frame on back-to-back doubles by Gabriel Arias and Bo Naylor. By the time the second inning ended, Povich was up to 46 pitches.

The left-hander then settled in with some help from Santander. Povich retired 10 of the next 11 batters he faced with the lone hit a one-out triple by Daniel Schneemann in the fourth. Arias then hit a flyball 268 feet to right field, which usually would be deep enough to score a player like Schneemann, who has a 70th percentile sprint speed of 28 feet per second, from third.

Santander collected the ball and fired a one-hop throw to James McCann at home plate. The throw got to McCann in plenty of time, allowing him to find the sliding Schneemann and tag him to end the inning. According to Statcast, the 253-foot throw from the point where Santander fired the ball is the third-longest throw to nail a runner at the plate this season.

The next hit Povich allowed didn’t arrive until the sixth when Ramírez hit his 20th home run of the season with a solo blast to center field to put the Guardians in front. Povich came within one batter of getting through the sixth inning, but his day ended after allowing a single to Will Brennan. Cionel Pérez preserved his line by getting Schneemann to ground out.

Baltimore had its chances to even the score. After Gunnar Henderson hit a leadoff double in the first and O’Hearn drove him in with an RBI single, Kjerstad doubled on the first pitch he saw to put two runners in scoring position. However, Jordan Westburg then struck out on three pitches to end the threat. Westburg later grounded out in another two-out situation with two men aboard in the third.

Pérez threw a scoreless seventh and Jacob Webb worked around a double by David Fry to strike out three batters for a scoreless eighth. The Orioles worked Cleveland starter Tanner Bibee’s pitch count up enough to get him out of the game after six impressive innings, but the Guardians’ bullpen — which owns the best reliever ERA in the majors — offered no reprieve.

Tim Herrin tossed a perfect seventh and Hunter Gaddis retired the first two batters in the eighth before Santander drew a walk. That brought up Kjerstad, who battled Gaddis for 13 pitches and fouled off eight of them before flying out to center field. Scott Barlow then pitched the ninth with Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase, who pitched each of the previous two days, unavailable. He struck out Westburg, Cedric Mullins and a pinch-hitting Ryan Mouncastle to end the game.

The Orioles’ four-game losing streak matches their longest since Sept. 12-15, 2023. They will look to end the skid Tuesday when Cole Irvin gets the start against the Guardians’ Logan Allen in the second contest of the three-game set.

Guardians at Orioles

Tuesday, 6:35 p.m. ET

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