A strike-thrower who gets hitters to expand the strike zone with breaking pitches that tantalize them to golf swing into the dirt, Iwakuma put the Orioles on the wrong side of history Wednesday afternoon.
The 34-year-old Japanese-born right hander no-hit the Orioles in a 3-0 loss, ending their nine-game West Coast road trip in the worst way possible.
It was the fourth no-hitter in the majors this season and the seventh time in the club’s 61-year history that the Orioles were no-hit. The last no-hitter thrown against Baltimore was by Clay Buchholz of the Boston Red Sox on Sept. 1, 2007.
Gerardo Parra lined a first-pitch delivery to center field, where Austin Jackson made a running catch for the final out to prompt a celebration at the mound.
Third baseman Kyle Seager made an over-the-shoulder catch on David Lough’s foul looper near the seats for the first out in the ninth. Manny Machado then grounded to third.
The Orioles were without shortstop J.J. Hardy, who was given the day off, and catcher Matt Wieters, resting a right hamstring injury.
Iwakuma (4-2) allowed just three base runners — all on walks. He struck out seven, but his biggest strength was keeping the ball on the ground, drawing weak contact. The Orioles hit just six balls into the outfield on the day.
Iwakuma issued a pair of walks in the fourth inning, but went on to retire 15 of the final 16 hitters.
The Orioles (57-56) completed their nine-game road trip to Oakland, Anaheim and Seattle with a 4-5 record by losing three of the trip’s last four games. The Orioles fell to 25-36 on the road.
Baltimore right-hander Kevin Gausman (2-4) set a career high with eight strikeouts in seven innings in a losing effort.
Gausman allowed back-to-back run-scoring hits by Franklin Gutierrez and Robinson Cano with two outs in the third to fall behind, 2-0.
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