CLEVELAND _ With three outs to go for his first complete game in nearly five years, Alex Cobb laid out on the infield grass of Progressive Field just how much it would mean to him.
Actually, literally laid out. After his 2-2 changeup shattered Francisco Lindor's bat on a slow chopper to Cobb's left, the 30-year-old right-hander went into a full dive in an attempt to knock it down. He avoided the bat shards, second baseman Jonathan Villar cleaned it up and two groundouts later, Cobb had his best start in an Orioles uniform and the team had a well-earned 4-2 win over the Cleveland Indians before a sellout crowd of 35,007.
The return of Cobb's changeup has heralded a return to form for the Orioles starter
Already riding a stretch of four straight quality starts and carrying a 2.03 ERA since the All-Star break, Cobb (4-15) pitched past the seventh inning for the first time in an Orioles uniform and notched his fourth career complete game, the first since Aug. 31, 2013 with the Tampa Bay Rays.
His nine innings of two-run ball was just the latest marker that the Orioles' late-signing free-agent prize has pitched through whatever cobwebs limited him early in the season, with each passing start more and more reminiscent of the Cobb that impressed so much before Tommy John elbow reconstruction in 2015.
Cobb turned the Indians lineup over with a simple 30 pitches in the first three innings, and erased Lindor with a double play after his leadoff single in the fourth inning accounted for Cleveland's first hit.
By then, the Orioles had already taken a lead they'd never hand back when rookie Austin Wynns walked with one out in the third inning, fellow rookie Cedric Mullins then bunted for a base hit and Villar hit his third home run in an Orioles uniform to make it 3-0.
The Indians (70-52) only got to Cobb in the sixth inning, when in the span of seven pitches, all three of Yan Gomes, Greg Allen and Lindor singled ahead of a sacrifice fly by Michael Brantley to score twice and cut the Orioles' lead to 3-2.
Cleveland threatened after a leadoff walk and a one-out single in the seventh inning put runners on the corners with one out, but Cobb got a first-pitch double-play ball from Melky Cabrera. Mullins' first career home run in the eighth inning gave Cobb a bit of extra cushion, and Cobb comfortably finished out the complete game on 100 pitches to lower his ERA to 5.09. The Orioles improved to 37-86.
