The Baltimore Orioles beat the Cincinnati Reds 3-0 on Friday night, and Samuel Basallo delivered the blow that made the game feel finished long before the last out. His two-run homer in the third inning stretched the lead to 3-0, backed by Trevor Rogers’ five shutout innings and a late save from Tyler Wells.
The result is why Reds Score was being searched after the final out: Cincinnati managed only four hits, and Rogers allowed just two of them while striking out four and walking five. Elly De La Cruz still found a bright spot in a flat night for the Reds, reaching his 150th career stolen base in the third inning at age 24.
For Baltimore, the scoring started with pressure rather than a single swing. The Orioles executed a double steal in the first inning, and Gunnar Henderson scored when Tyler Stephenson’s throw to third base sailed into left field for an error. That set up Basallo’s 13th homer, which came off Brady Singer and turned a narrow edge into a game that Cincinnati never seriously threatened again.
Singer’s line told the rest of the story. He struck out six batters, but he also walked five, tied his career high in that category and gave up three runs, two earned, in five innings. He has now allowed 20 home runs this season in 17 starts, and the solo damage was not the only problem; the count kept drifting toward Baltimore, and the Orioles kept making him pay for extra baserunners.
Rogers handed the game off cleanly enough, with Rico Garcia covering two innings and Yennier Cano working the eighth. Wells then finished the four-hitter in the ninth and picked up his first save since Sept. 28, 2023, against the Boston Red Sox. With Ryan Helsley on the injured list, the Orioles did not need more than one final inning to close out a game that had already been decided by command, contact and one loud swing.
Hunter Greene is expected to come off the injured list and make his season debut Saturday night, while Brandon Young is scheduled to start for the Orioles. Cincinnati will need a sharper answer at the plate than it found Friday, because two hits off Rogers and four in the game will not travel against many major league staffs, much less one that can score early, defend a slim lead and turn it over to Wells with confidence.
