The Baltimore Orioles came into tonight’s game with a shot at taking the series with the Chicago White Sox. And that they did, behind the birthday boy, starter John Means. You really have to hand it to Means; he worked hard and made this team out of spring training, and he’s been superb in the games in which he’s appeared – especially as a starter. Means’ line: 5.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 6 K.
I’ve said so many times that the main job of a starting pitcher is to put the team in a spot to win the game. Means did that tonight. Means put Chicago out of their comfort zone from the get go, which again put the O’s in a spot to win.
The O’s got on the board right away on an RBI-single by Renato Nunez in the first inning. Rio Ruiz would single Nunez home later in the inning, and the Birds led 2-0. Hanser Alberto‘s sac fly-RBI in the second ran the lead to 3-0.
Chicago would fight back, however. Abreu would smack an RBI-double in the third, but msolo homer off the bat of Stevie Wilkerson in the fourth have the Orioles a 4-1 lead. However as I said, Chicago battled back. They threatened a few times, but most poignantly in the sixth. They loaded the bases with nobody out, but the Orioles managed to minimize the damage. Cordell got hit by a pitch, cutting the lead to 4-2. But other than that, the O’s minimized the damaged (whatever that means).
Chicago threatened again in the ninety, but the Orioles’ pen shut them down after Abreu accounted for one run on a RBI- double. They clamped down, for the final outs, and headed home for the night.
This was the first series win for the O’s at home in 2019. And that’s noteworthy because there has to be chemistry in an organization. If everyone’s not on the same page, things won’t mesh properly. And in order to win series’ things have to be meshing. This was a good team win for the Orioles, and as I said it marked their first series victory at home this year. They’re certainly hoping for many more.
Birdland Crush 