Mark Trumbo made his long-awaited 2019 debut for the Baltimore Orioles this afternoon in Tampa. Trumbo last played in a regular season game last August in Cleveland, before having knee surgery; he tried but failed to make a comeback in spring training, leaving that to today. And in doing so he got to see a decent outing from starter Asher Wojchiekowski. Wojchiekowski’s line: 7.0 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 1 BB, 5 K.
Tampa took a 2-0 lead on Meadows’ two-run homer in the third. The ball was a line drive that at first had the look of being an out, but simply refused to come down until it had just barely cleared the wall in right field. Two innings later it was 4-0 on Pham’s two-RBI double.
Hanser Alberto‘s solo homer in the sixth got the O’s on the board. After a couple of outs and a couple of baserunners, Trumbo came striding to the plate. Mind you, Trumbo knows what’s going on here. His contract’s up at the end of the season, and odds are he doesn’t fit into the Orioles’ plans for the future. There’s not even a guarantee that there’s a spot on a big league roster at all for Trumbo after this year. But he’s worked incredibly hard to get back to be able to play. And in doing so made a big impact on today’s game.
With the aforementioned two runners on, Trumbo smacked a two-RBI double to cut the Tampa lead to 4-3. Talk about a nice first hit of the season! Trumbo would later score on Pedro Severino‘s RBI-single which tied the game. Trumbo on today (quote courtesy of Roch Kubatko, MASNsports):
It was really nice. I was kind of hoping to do something today to help the cause. But yeah, being out there in itself was a good feeling, but it feels much better if you can do something to help the team, especially against a good opponent like this.
The game went to extra innings, however Pham’s RBI-single in the last of the tenth won it for Tampa. But today was about Mark Trumbo, who as I said worked incredibly hard to get back to being able to play. The fact that he worked so hard in what he knew from the get-go would be a down year, speaks to his character. Whether he returns or not, the Orioles are lucky to have had them come their way.
The series continues tomorrow at Tropicana Field in the first game of a doubleheader. Ty Blach gets the start for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by Tampa’s Trevor Richards. Game time is set for just after 3 PM. (Game two will begin approximately thirty minutes after the conclusion of game one.)
Birdland Crush 