Grayson Rodriguez was good enough and Gunnar Henderson hit a late home run to make it more comfortable
Before Monday’s game against the Angels, it might have been viewed as an easy win for the Orioles. Grayson Rodriguez, who was good in the second half playing against a depleted lineup; Angels starting pitcher Kenny Rosenberg is making his second-ever MLB start. Was it easy? No not really. But Rodriguez survived a night where he wasn’t at his best, Gunnar Henderson delivered a late home run to make things more comfortable, and the O’s won a game against the Rays with a 6-3 victory on Monday night.
Rodriguez wasn’t at his best at the start of the game. His evening began with a free pass to Angels standout Nolan Schanuel, who, as you may recall, was drafted less than two months ago and is already on the MLB roster. A double play erased Schanuel in time for the next batter, Luis Rengifo, to hit a single. Rodriguez ended the first game with a strikeout.
The next inning also started with traffic for Rodriguez, and this time he couldn’t avoid the damage. Catcher Logan O’Hoppe started the inning with a single. O’Hoppe was thrown out as he attempted to steal, with James McCann making the throw from his knees. With the bases clear, Rodriguez walked Michael Stefanic, a batter who was only in the lineup because Shohei Ohtani was a late scratcher. Stefanic came into the game with a .186 batting average in 38 career games.
Don’t go for a walk with that guy! But that’s exactly what happened. Mickey Moniak, the former No. 1 overall pick, came in and was left 0-2 after two throws. Rodriguez tried to get him to chase a slider just like the first two he swung through. Moniak didn’t miss the third and played the ball into the gap in right-center, an RBI double that gave Los Angeles a 1-0 lead. It would have to be another comeback win for the Orioles.
The Orioles needed the comeback because their own early efforts against Angels starter Kenny Rosenberg, a man making his sixth-ever MLB appearance and once a minor-league Rule 5 pitcher, failed to yield them results. Gunnar Henderson’s leadoff double in the second, followed by a walk by Aaron Hicks with one out, was meaningless.
After falling behind, the Orioles finally struck against Rosenberg in the middle of the third inning. As is often the case with the 2023 team, it took the second time until the job was completed. Well, the second time plus Jorge Mateo’s first at bat in the 9th. Mateo got the party started with a single, the first of five O’s hits in the inning. Austin Hays quickly leveled the game with a brace and before the dust had settled, Hays had scored, as had Ryan Mountcastle, who filled in for Hays. That was good for a 3-1 lead.
This was the only inning the Orioles scored against Rosenberg. We all might have wanted the O’s to do better than scoring three runs over six innings against a pitcher like that. In a month they’ll have to play against good starters from good teams in short playoff series, and this guy could keep them at bay? This is a problem for a month.
Rodriguez wasn’t perfect after his early mistakes, but he did enough to maintain that lead. He worked around a couple singles in the third inning to reach the shutdown inning after the O’s put him on top. That 3-1 lead was cut to 3-2 by a home run from the Orioles’ most recent nemesis, Randal Grichuk. Come on, this damn guy? But that was all they got. Rodriguez struck out the team in the fifth and ended his night with a scoreless sixth, aided by another double play that wiped out a single leadoff play.
Overall, Rodriguez’s line saw him largely scatter seven hits and two walks, giving up just the two runs in six innings. Rodriguez struck out seven batters, surpassing the 100 mark this season. His career ERA has finally dipped below 5. It’s fair to say that this wasn’t Rodriguez’s best night or his best stuff, and he still authored two-thirds of the pitching in an Orioles win. With the AL East race being what it is, we can’t complain about this result come September.
Freed from having to see more of Rosenberg, the Orioles’ offense got rolling against an Angels bullpen that lost three players in last week’s waiver frenzy. A duel quickly broke out against the 30-year-old journeyman Gerardo Reyes. He was almost out, then Santander lined a single up the middle, Mountcastle drew a walk and Henderson spun on an infield and hit a laser that hit the right field scoreboard above the home run line. That’s 23 home runs for Henderson this season. It was a stark reminder of who the American League’s rookie of the year should be.
That three-run home run gave the Orioles a 6-2 lead. Three helpers got the Orioles the rest of the way. Jacob Webb, who the Angels waived last month, sailed through the seventh and pitched a scoreless revenge inning. DL Hall was bettered by Brandon Drury’s 20th home run of the season, a solo shot in the eighth that gave Yennier Cano a save. No batter reached base against Cano, thanks in part to Jordan Westburg reaching deep into center field and making a tumbling catch.
Cano’s save was his sixth. Rodriguez’s victory was his fifth. Henderson, Mountcastle and Westburg all had multi-hit games. It was a night of team effort and the result was the Orioles’ 86th win of the season. They are 35 games over .500. The undefeated streak is now the sole player in third place all-time at 84. The magic number to win the AL East is 22, and the magic number to win anything is 15. This stuff is a lot of fun.
The Orioles and Angels will be back on the East Coast for another late night game on Tuesday night. It’s another 9:38am start time, just like this one. Dean Kremer and Reid Detmers are the projected starters as the O’s will look to do their part to further lower those magic numbers.
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