Allen joins Cleveland's history books with 10 K-gem

BALTIMORE -- With a couple dozen family and friends on hand, Cam Gallagher had one of his best days with his bat and his arm -- which was almost as enjoyable as catching rookie left-hander Logan Allen’s latest masterpiece.

Allen dazzled yet again Monday, posting career highs with seven innings and 10 strikeouts, and the Guardians beat the Orioles, 5-0, to open a three-game set at Camden Yards.

“It's fun watching him,” Gallagher said of Allen, Cleveland’s No. 8 prospect per MLB Pipeline. “He's a competitor. He's never fazed. And it's one thing that I kind of had a little emotion today too, because I'm, we're feeding off each other.”

Gallagher -- who grew up not far away in southern Pennsylvania -- drove in two runs on a sac fly and a single to help his batterymate, with the latter sparking a four-run seventh inning off Baltimore’s vaunted bullpen. He also became only the second catcher in 15 attempts to throw out Orioles speedster Cedric Mullins on an attempted steal this season.

Will Brennan had his first career three-hit game as Cleveland posted back-to-back wins for the first time in two weeks -- this one being far more comfortable than Sunday’s dramatic series-clincher at home over the Cardinals.

“That's why we play those one run games -- to enjoy those five-run games,” Brennan said.

At age 24, with only 39 2/3 career innings, the left-handed Allen (2-2) keeps making club history.

In this one, he became the second Cleveland pitcher -- and the first in nearly 70 years since 22-year-old Herb Score did it in 1955 -- to record eight or more strikeouts three times in his first seven outings.

He’s also added his name to the list of eight Cleveland pitchers to post 10 or more Ks in his first seven appearances, while lowering his ERA to 2.72.

“Anytime we look up and somebody's pitching into the seventh, you're generally feeling pretty good,” said Guardians manager Terry Francona. “But he's learning on the job and he's doing a pretty good job of it.”

Perhaps in the ultimate sign of respect, he may have also convinced the Orioles into some lineup adjustments, with Gunnar Henderson and switch-hitting star catcher Adley Rutschman both rested.

It was the first time Rutschman -- who eventually ended up in the on-deck circle as the final Orioles batter was retired -- did not appear in a game this season.

“I watched his last start that was against Chicago and saw that he had really good stuff,” said Orioles manager Brandon Hyde. “But in person, there was a ton of sneaky life to his fastball. The tempo he works with, everything gets on hitters quickly. And he's got good stuff, he's got good secondary stuff also. But he works ahead in the count and he was attacking us from pitch one, and we just had a tough time squaring the ball up against him.”

Gallagher’s strong day began when he threw out Mullins to erase a leadoff walk.

It continued when he hit a sacrifice fly out to center to break the scoreless tie in the fifth inning. Then in the seventh, he took Cionel Perez’s 1-0 offering the opposite way to plate Myles Straw from second.

He eventually scored the third run of the frame, racing home on a chopper to second that induced a wild throw from Adam Frazier, which bounded away from home allowing an additional run to score.

Gallagher singled once more in the ninth to complete his first multi-hit game since September of 2021.

“I think there was probably a total of 20, 25 people here,” the native of nearby Lancaster, Pa., said. “So it was good to come out and get a win and play well in front of them and ultimately get a win for the team. And we're in a pretty good spot right now and we should keep this momentum going.”