Orioles outlast the rain, Angels in 2-0 win as Charlie Morton notches 10 Ks

Matt Weyrich, The Baltimore Sun on Jun 13, 2025

Published in Baseball

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BALTIMORE — Four hours, 37 minutes and two rain delays after the originally scheduled first pitch, the Orioles beat the Los Angeles Angels, 2-0, on Friday night.

Charlie Morton earned the win with 10 strikeouts — tied for his season high — over five shutout innings, scattering five hits and a walk to lower his season ERA to 6.05. The veteran starter became just the ninth pitcher in MLB history with multiple 10-strikeout games after turning 40 years old, bouncing back after lasting only 2 1/3 frames his last time out.

Ryan O’Hearn and Ramón Laureano supplied the offense for Baltimore with solo home runs in the second and fifth innings, respectively. O’Hearn’s blast was his 10th of the season, tying Cedric Mullins for the team lead. Laureano’s home run total is up to eight. Both blasts came off the Angels’ Jack Kochanowicz, whose 5.53 ERA is the highest of any qualified starter in MLB.

The game began in a rain delay that lasted an hour because of thunderstorms and the rain clouds returned in the bottom of the fifth, forcing another hour-long pause in the contest. Under MLB rules, the game would’ve been deemed official at that point because the home team, in this case the Orioles (28-40), held the lead after recording at least 15 outs.

But the teams played on. Yennier Cano replaced Morton, whose outing was cut short at 78 pitches, and pitched a scoreless sixth. The Orioles threatened to score in the bottom half of the frame when they loaded bases with two outs, but Ramón Urías grounded out to end the threat.

That would be it for the offense, which had O’Hearn get on base with a two-out double in the eighth but otherwise went down quietly. The bullpen, which has been lights out as of late, proved up to the task as Gregory Soto, Bryan Baker and Félix Bautista turned in clean frames to keep the score right where it was and secure the second shutout win of the season.

Instant analysis

Morton first started to turn his season around in the bullpen at Angel Stadium, so it was fitting he returned to form again with Los Angeles in town. He worked out of a couple of jams to keep the Angels off the scoreboard with a dominant curveball and a fastball that he managed to locate well in the strike zone all night.

The right-hander tied his season high with 16 whiffs and he’s recorded at least 12 in four of his past five outings — an astonishing feat considering he reached double digits only once in his first six starts. Morton owns a 2.45 ERA over his past seven appearances and 29 1/3 innings dating to May 10. That stands as the best ERA of any Orioles pitcher with at least 20 innings over that span and 14th lowest in the American League.

Morton’s turnaround is starting to look very real.

On deck

The Orioles will look to win the series and pull back to 11 games under .500 — which would be tied for the closest they’ve been to an even record since interim manager Tony Mansolino took over — on Saturday when Tomoyuki Sugano starts opposite Angels left-hander Tyler Anderson. Baltimore is 3-14 against left-handed starters this season, not including openers, but one of those wins came against Anderson in Anaheim last month.