Orioles Lose, 4-2, To Guardians In A Familiar Fashion

Guardians sensation Parker Messick, in his 11th big league start, took a no hitter into the ninth inning and got plenty of swing and miss along the way.

Apr 16, 2026; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Baltimore Orioles starting pitcher Shane Baz (34) delivers a pitch in the first inning against the Cleveland Guardians at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-Imagn Images | David Richard-Imagn Images

The O’s are under .500 again. Not a huge deal. Far from ideal.

And they started the series in Cleveland the way they have played so many games over the past three years – absolutely stymied by a pitcher throwing a ton of offspeed stuff, swinging and missing all over, failing to make a key play in the field while their opponent shines in that regard. It resulted in a 4-2 loss at Cleveland, which felt like a blowout until a late scramble in the ninth to bring the potential winning run to the plate.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before.

This wasn’t like getting kept off balance all night by Ty Blach or like Jack Lieter looking like a Cy Younge the first week of the season and then getting pummeled by the rest of the league since. Parker Messick is the latest gem cultivated by the Guardians – a team that has a superpower; Orioles players development has none – and he’s going to make a lot of lineups look foolish.

He won’t, of course, carry a no hitter into the ninth inning every start. The O’s have struggled vs lefties for years and they have barely seen any so far in 2026. Good news is it can’t get any worse than this! And it’s still just April.

Still, it’s disconcerting to see so many of the same bugaboos show up so often.

“He did a great job of changing speeds in all counts,” Orioles manager Craig Albernaz said of Messick. “Soft contact … He was on tonight.”

Too Much Swing And Miss

This looked like a perfect storm – young lefty, not a hard thrower, in great form the O’s have seen much of before who throws a devastating change up. Yikes.

Baltimore entered this game 22nd in MLB since the start of last season vs lefties with a .670 OPS, with the seventh-highest whiff rate vs them. Messick got a ridiculous 45% whiff rate off the change Thursday and they struck out nine more times.  The at bats were disastrous for the most part; average exit velo off Messick was 87.1 and they didn’t hit a ball off him over 90 mph off the bat.

We wrote about the latest Mike Elias Frankenstein roster earlier this week. It’s not too early to point out this lineup entered this series bottom 10 in MLB n K rate and while they are walking more the contact rates were problematic (22nd) and they were bottom eight in swinging strike percentage. The approach against non-fastball dominant starters has been garbage for years and this new staff – filled with plenty of holdovers from the old staff – might be short on answers.

Glove Glitches

Jeremiah Jackson needs to stay playing every night – keep Jackson Holiday on another rehab stint whenever he gets over his latest setback -and he has made some great plays in the field. But he’s probably not an everyday option at second base and his inability to make a play that left him shaking his head helped the Guardians tack on insurance against Shane Baz, who battled through six.

Of course, when you get no hit through eight it might not matter, but it did become a two-run game in the end. Cleveland is a superior defensive team and the difference in team defense was another big factor in an Oriole defeat.

On the bright side, the O's corner defense has been far better than anyone could have hoped for, and Coby Mayo and Pete Alonso continued to shine in that regard Thursday.

Odds And Ends

Seems fitting that Leody Tavares was the guy to break up the no-no in the ninth. What a revelation he’s been. He has to be the everyday centerfielder for this team because he is the only glove who can do it, and the bat has been special thus far. O’s put together some scrappy Abs in the ninth to make the Guardians sweat. Got an assist from Cleveland, who shockingly didn’t go get Messick as soon as Tavares broke up the no-no …

Welcome to the bigs Cameron Foster. Part of trade deadline deal, he took advantage of Guardians bats swinging a lot in his MLB debut, seemingly ready to get back in the field and try to get Messick a no hitter … Baz (4.91 ERA) continues to tantalize with special stuff and moments of brilliance. There may be ace in there somewhere; not sure if this group will be able to cull it out of him. Outside of an early bomb from Jose Ramirez (“the only pitch he would want back,” Albernaz said) Baz was far more good than bad. But expecting him to quickly morph into a consistent front-of-the-rotation guy seems ambitious if not outright naive … Would I have pinch hit ever-struggling Colton Cowser during a rally in the ninth over Dylan Beavers. Um, no. “We felt great with Cowser up there,” Albernaz said, noting Beavers has been a little under the weather.