During that game I asked myself, “Who are these Orioles?” To see a team that never gives up, that never gives up and that just keeps winning is still so new to me. I don’t know how to react!
But after watching Gunnar Henderson dominate at the plate, the Bullpen going 4.2 innings scoreless, Ryan O’Hearn hitting a starting shot for the home run with a left-hander, and the Orioles picking up three out of four games against former runners-up Tampa Bay Rays, I have an answer. At least for now, they’re the best team in the American League.
The Orioles took on Taj Bradley early, scoring one run in the first inning and two in the second. In the first game, 1-2 batters Gunnar Henderson and Adleyrutschman went straight to work. Henderson knocked out an infield single andrutschman followed with a double into deep midfield, hitting the ball in the first half of the game.
With a runner in the scoring position and no outs, it would have been nice to make money for another run or two. Bututschman couldn’t get past second base, even though Austin Hays made a walk later in the inning.
In the second run, however, they were back at the start. Number nine hitter Adam Frazier hit a two-out double to roll over the lineup and hand it back to Gunnar, currently the hottest guy on the field. He took care of business and fired a rocket into right midfield. It bounced off the catwalk and fell harmlessly back into the field as runners rounded bases.
The Statcast numbers are fun: 111.2 mph on the first go, an estimated distance of 446 feet, an expected batting average of 1,000, a home run in all 30 parks. This gave Tyler Wells an early 3-0 lead.
Wells had a very strange start today, and not in a good way. He needed to get back on track after his disastrous game against the Dodgers last week. He did not. He left the game after just 4.1 innings and three runs allowed. Three runs isn’t a bloodbath, but he just looked so lost out there that it made sense to see Brandon Hyde come out to tug him when he did.
The oddity lies in the fact that despite giving up three runs and throwing 77 pitches, Wells didn’t concede a single hit until the fifth inning. In fact, the Rays scored their first run of the game without landing a single hit. But Wells, who hasn’t run many batters in the past, looked completely lost on the strike zone.
He started the first inning with back-to-back 3-0 counts that luckily ended in outs, but it was just the beginning of a worrying trend. He hit a batter in both that inning and the second inning. The second HBP was a fearsome blow to Isaac Paredes, who ricocheted off his helmet at 91 mph. Luckily he didn’t have to leave the game.
The poor command escalated in the fourth inning. Wells went to Harold Ramirez and Randy Arozarena, then Ramirez moved up to third after a flyball out. The next hitter, Brandon Lowe, chopped a ball to the right side. Adam Frazier tried to start a double play, but the ball just didn’t land in the right spot. They had the first runner, but Lowe was able to narrowly return the throw for first place. The Rays’ first run of the night scored.
In that fourth inning, Mike Baumann began warming up in case Wells needed a quick hook. It was a little surprising to see, but as MASN announcer Kevin Brown was saying at the moment, Brandon Hyde had run this series like it was the ALCS. And it makes sense, even though it’s only a huge series in July and a win today would give the Orioles a head start in their division and would be of great help in the event of a tie-breaker scenario.
Wells made it through the innings, but cameras caught him having a heated chat with Brandon Hyde between the innings. Whatever was said, Wells went back for the fifth time to see if he could pull himself together. He could not. He accompanied Christian Bethancourt at the start of the fifth half and then gave up his only goal. Because he’s Tyler Wells, that hit was a home run. Just like that we had a draw.
Wells scored a Wander Franco flyout in the fifth set, and then his night was over. That’s when the Mike Baumann Show began. Big Mike came in and hit two quick groundouts to end the inning and then threw two more scoreless innings. That was huge in a game where the starter had to go early to finally get some solid center relief.
Baumann made two walks in his outing, including the first batter of the sixth inning. This was pretty nerve wracking for those of us following the Orioles this year and know how the relief pitch has stalled, but none of the walks have done anything. He didn’t allow a hit and slammed in two.
It wasn’t long before the Orioles clinched the game after Wells gave up the game-winning home run. The Rays brought in left-hander Colin Poche to face Ryan O’Hearn in game six. That would normally be the end of O’Hearn’s day, but Poche is the only left in the Ray’s bullpen and it was only the sixth. So O’Hearn stayed in. And hit a home run. A home run in the opposite field! How about that? The ball just kept sailing and bounced off the foul post, giving the Orioles a 4-3 lead.
They added another run in the seventh, this one was undeserved. Colton Cowser, who smoked two balls early in the game with nothing to show, hit a chopper on third base that Paredes couldn’t handle. A one-out walk by Henderson moved him to second place. rutschman did a good job on his attack but ultimately couldn’t bring in Cowser.
This meant that Anthony Santander was in a bit of a crisis. He didn’t settle in that AB, however, dropping a single into right field. Cowser scored and the fifth and final heat of the game ended with a score of 5:3.
If you thought Hyde would avoid using Yennier Cano and Félix Bautista today, you forgot he ran that series like the playoffs. Cano came on for the eighth time and looked okay out there, although to me he looked like he was tired before he even threw a pitch. He went through the inning with a groundout, a flyout, and a strikeout 1-2-3. Good change!
Ninth place went to Bautista and although he looked good overall, things didn’t go quite so smoothly for him. Jorge Mateo missed a grounder down the middle that led to a one-out single, and Yandy Díaz hit a single through the right with two outs. But Bautista prevailed in the final pass, beating Brandon Lowe to end the game.
What a win. What a series. The Orioles now have two games ahead of Tampa Bay in the AL East and will head to the coast for a three-game streak starting tomorrow in Philadelphia. Let’s hope the offense can get 10 runs per game up there so Cano and Bautista can get some rest.
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