TORONTO _ David Hess realizes these final five-plus weeks of the season are important for him to leave a lasting impression on the Orioles' staff for next season.
And despite it coming in a losing effort, Hess had his best big-league performance to date in Wednesday afternoon's 6-0 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays.
Hess, 25, deserved a far better fate. He retired the first 12 batters he faced and allowed just three hits. He made just one mistake, an elevated 2-2 change-up that Kendrys Morales hit into the right-field stands in the seventh inning for his fourth homer of the series. It was the only run Hess (2-8) allowed in seven innings.
With the loss, the Orioles finished 0-10 at Rogers Centre this season, marking their first winless season in Toronto since 2010, when they went 0-9.
Hess didn't get much help from his offense, which managed just two hits on the day, matching the Orioles' season low. Despite that, the Orioles had their opportunities to score, but went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position.
And then Hess had to watch as right-hander Miguel Castro allowed five runs in the eighth, allowing all five hitters he faced to reach base in an inning that snowballed quickly. Castro walked two, threw three wild pitches, allowed a double to Richard Urena and gave up a three-run homer to Devon Travis.
The Orioles were hitless against Blue Jays right-hander Thomas Pannone (1-0) through six innings before Trey Mancini's leadoff single in the seventh broke up the rookie's no-hit bid. But that was the only hit Pannone allowed in seven innings.
Pannone, who was making his first major-league start filling Marcus Stroman's rotation spot, had made just nine minor-league starts this season after serving an 80-game minor-league drug suspension and each of his previous four major-league outings were in relief, none longer than 12/3 innings.
But the Orioles let Pannone get in a groove. He pounded the strike zone with his high-80s fastball and the Orioles swinging through the pitch 14 times as he allowed just three base runners _ he hit Jonathan Villar with a pitch before walking Tim Beckham and Adam Jones _ through his first five innings.
The Orioles jumped on Pannone in the seventh, putting runners at second and third with no outs after Mancini's leadoff single and a two-base error after Jones' liner sailed over left fielder Teoscar Hernandez's head.
But the Orioles (37-90) still couldn't score as Pannone retired the next three batters, Beckham and Craig Gentry on groundouts and Renato Nunez on a popout.
The Orioles also had two on with one out in the eighth against Blue Jays reliever Ryan Tepera after John Andreoli's leadoff single and a one-out walk issued to Cedric Mullins. But Villar struck out swinging and Billy McKinney made a sliding catch on Mancini's bloop fly ball into shallow right field.
Hess' recent struggles centered around fastball command _ he was coming off a four-walk game and was averaging 3.9 walks per nine innings. But he was aggressive in the zone with his fastball Wednesday, finishing with a career-high seven strikeouts while walking none. Four of Hess' strikeouts came on four-seamers, including three that were up in the zone.
