CLEVELAND — Three outs from a historic black mark, the Orioles had a choice.

Choice one: Go quietly into the ninth inning, cough up the rest of their lunch money to Guardians left-hander Parker Messick, and go forever on a list of lineups to be no-hit through a complete game.

Choice two: Rally and try to cram a game’s worth of hits into the ninth.

The Orioles wound up doing the latter, squeezing four hits and two runs into the last frame to remove themselves from the brink of oblivion. But, as many sparks as they found at the end, it wasn’t enough — Messick and Cleveland claimed a 4-2 series-opening win, the third straight loss for the Orioles (9-10).

The Orioles finished by stranding runners in scoring position who could have tied the game for them. Leody Taveras broke up the no-hitter in the leadoff at-bat with a grounder that just slipped past the glove of a diving Juan Brito at second, the first of three straight hits. Taveras scored the first run.

“Even if the game hasn’t finished yet, we’re still thinking that we can flip the game,” Taveras said. “That’s why we go out there.”

It was the third time in as many years that the Orioles have broken up a no-hitter in the ninth inning, just the third franchise to have such a streak in the expansion era, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

In September, they were one out from being no-hit by Yoshinobu Yamamoto of the Los Angeles Dodgers before rallying in the bottom of the ninth to win 4-3.

But, before an action-packed ninth, Messick dominated the game with precision over power. An aggressive delivery helped his 93-mph fastball play quicker, leading to groundout after groundout.

His changeup, which wound up costing the Orioles eight whiffs, kept the hitters guessing. It didn’t help that Adley Rutschman and Tyler O’Neill, two hitters who might have fared better against a lefty, are laid up with short-term injuries.

The 25-year-old Messick’s ERA is 1.05 this season across four starts, and his nine strikeouts tied a career high. Before the ninth, a third-inning deep shot to the wall by Taylor Ward (caught by a leaping Steven Kwan) was the only hard-hit ball outside the infield.

In his return to Cleveland, manager Craig Albernaz wasn’t worried so much about his lineup as he was impressed with Messick, whom he knew when he was bench coach with the Guardians last year.

“What was going through my mind was Messick was on,” he said. “He had all his pitches dialed in the strike zone. He did a great job of changing speeds in all counts.”

On another night, it might have been a good enough start from Shane Baz to get a win. After a rough first inning in which he gave up a two-run homer to José Ramírez, Baz settled in for a controlled performance. He didn’t give up his second hit until the fifth inning.

But Messick’s start was strong enough (through 112 pitches) to give the Guardians leeway. The Orioles showed enough fight to wonder if the result might have been different if they had just found a way to break through sooner.

“I think that’s just our next step — getting out to a quick and early lead and maintaining it and adding on after that,” Ward said. “Love to see the fight in the team, it’s great, but I just think we’ve got to flip it.”

Orioles trade away RHP McDermott

Baltimore traded one of its young arms on the 40-man roster, sending righty Chayce McDermott to the Dodgers for a 20-year-old pitching prospect.

McDermott debuted in the big leagues for the Orioles in 2024 but struggled to break out of the minors in the organization. In total, he made five appearances in the majors, allowing 18 earned runs in 12 2/3 innings. This season, he pitched in five games for Triple-A Norfolk with a 6.75 ERA.

In return, the Orioles get Axel Perez, who played in the Dominican Summer League last season. He is slated to play rookie ball this year.