Another tight game, another series win.
As we all expected, tonight’s game was a pitcher duel between… Kyle Gibson and Clarke Schmidt? That cant be true. Let me check the score in the box again and…yes. Those were the mugs! Strange. A 1-0 lead for the Orioles after seven games translated into a 3-1 win and another consecutive win for the Birds.
Schmidt now seemed more of a problem when the Orioles let him off the hook. He threw a lot of shots and the Orioles couldn’t take advantage of their baserunners. They filled bases with two outs in the first game and wasted two ons with two outs in the third game.
The umpire’s hitting zone was inconsistent throughout the game, and Yankees manager Aaron Boone took it very personally. When the end of the third was over, he left the dugout to yell at the referee. He got kicked out of the game and then decided to put on a real show. Finally, he raised his hand and left the field to allow the game to continue.
Finally, the Orioles prevailed in the fifth inning against the strong Clarke Schmidt. While Adam Frazier was on base with a double, Anthony Santander shoved a groundball single down the right side of the infield. Frazier ran home and made the game 1-0.
But would one run be enough? If Kyle Gibson had anything to do with it, then yes. Gibson was just amazing tonight. Unlike Schmidt, he didn’t allow many baserunners and was relatively pitch efficient. After his great game in Toronto, it was exciting to see him shine in back-to-back starts.
The very first hitter Gibson faced, Gleyber Torres, hit a single on the first pitch Gibson threw. He allowed the next hit in the seventh inning. That’s a lot of outs between hits! Gibson encountered only three batters each in the first, second, sixth, and seventh innings. He benefited from two double plays. But in a game this low, every baserunner means drama.
He coped fairly easily with a one-out walk in the third inning, but things got difficult in the fourth inning. With two outs, he gave Harrison Bader and Willie Calhoun back-to-back walks. This was partly because Gibson lost the strike zone a bit, and partly because of the aforementioned poor strike zone. But he pulled Anthony Volpe back to bail out.
In the fifth inning, Gibson beat Ben Rortvedt for the second time in the game. Is Ben Rortvedt really that scary? Apparently so.
From there, things were pretty easy for Gibson. He conceded a leadoff single in the seventh inning, but ended the night with a double play at the end of the inning. It was challenged by the Yankees but confirmed by replay. That double play ball marked the end of a fantastic start from Gibson, everything the Orioles needed and the best they could have hoped for, although there were more walks than one would like. His final pitching line: 7 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 3 K. That’ll play.
When both starters leave a game with a 1-0 score, the pressure on the bullpens is high. The Yankee bullpen had to cover more and they were the ones blinking. Nick Ramirez got into trouble when he gave Gunnar Henderson a hit and a stolen base and allowed Ryan O’Hearn to reach through his own catch mistake. But Ryan McKenna, who was having a very rough evening at the record, landed a double play to end the threat.
McKenna played tonight because Cedric Mullins is not on the team for personal reasons. Whatever it is, we wish Ced the best and hope to see him back in the lineup tomorrow in Baltimore.
Finally, in the eighth inning, the Orioles got a little insurance. Yankees pitcher Wandy Peralta, who had come on in the seventh inning and brought Adleyrutschman to GIDP to finish the inning, wasn’t as good in the eighth inning. He squeezed walks to Santander and Henderson around a Ryan Mountcastle strikeout and his day was over.
Clay Holmes replaced Peralta and Austin Hays jumped on a sinker and sent a line drive into right field. At first glance, it looked like a home run at Yankee Stadium, but it bounced off the top of the fence and back into play. Both runners scored and Hays ended up scoring a brace. Two of the three Ryans, O’Hearn and McKenna, followed Hays. They couldn’t bring him in.
As for the Orioles’ bullpen, they only had to cover two innings. Mike Baumann came out for the eighth time and I admit I was nervous. But Big Mike dominated, pumping fastballs at 99 mph as he hit two shots and grounded as part of an easy inning.
It wasn’t so easy for Yennier Cano when he saved in the ninth round. He had a hard shot at Aaron Judge that ended in a walk, and then Willie Calhoun threw a ball into deep midfield with two outs. Would Cedric Mullins have it? It doesn’t matter because he wasn’t there. It went just out of McKenna’s reach and Judge scored to make it 3-1.
Before anyone could panic too much, however, Anthony Volpe hit the first pitch he saw and ended the game with an easy flyout down the middle.
Oh victory! Their six-game road trip against two division rivals ended in a 5-1 record. Turns out the Orioles are pretty damn good. Now it’s home for them to play a three-game weekend against the top-ranked Texas Rangers. Let’s carry on the good times!
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