The Baltimore Orioles concluded their truncated 2020 season this afternoon. Perhaps it’s fitting that the strangest season in history came to an end in a Buffalo minor league park – the temporary home of the Toronto Blue Jays. Keegan Akin got the ball, but in essence acted as “the opener.” Akin’s line 3.0 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 1 BB, 4 K.
With Toronto leading 1-0, Renato Nunez‘s RBI-double in the third tied the score at one. However Toronto would put three additional runs on the board in the last of the third. Which in essence was consistent with the rest of this series, and perhaps the rest of the games that have been against Toronto this year.
But at some point the O’s decided to extend the summer just a little longer. They decided that they weren’t going into the night without a fight. Cedric Mullins‘ two-RBI triple cut the lead to 4-3, and out Toronto on notice that they weren’t going to end the season with a cakewalk. Mullins would later score on Austin Hays‘ sac fly-RBI which tied the game.
And that fourth inning was the final time the Orioles would trail in 2020. Rio Ruiz smacked an RBI-double in the fifth which have the O’s a 5-4 lead. The O’s would also get an RBI-groundout, and an RBI-single to run the lead to 7-4. Toronto would score on an error in the eighth, but the Birds pulled out a 7-5 lead.
And yes, that’s the end of the line. For 2020, at least! The season is now complete, and the O’s finished with 25 wins. But don’t underestimate the importance of winning this final game. That does mean something going into next year. Next season, which hopefully will are the return of normalcy to MLB.
As a tongue-in-cheek joke, the O’s will next take on the Atlanta Braves at Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota, Fl on February 27th – Opening Day of the Florida Grapefruit League season. Starters are TDB for both teams. Nothing set yet in stone, but I would think that game time would be sometime around 1 PM.
Birdland Crush 