Jorge Lopez pitched what in my opinion was his best outing in a Baltimore Orioles’ uniform. He was the lucky pitcher who got to face the Bronx Bombers after all of their deadline acquisitions had joined the team. But odds are he and his teammates made New York rethink their decision to buy. Lopez’s line: 6.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 5 BB, 4 K.
However while it all begins and ends with starting pitching, Lopez wasn’t the biggest story of the night. That would have been Oriole bats. In the third and fourth innings the O’s hit four solo home runs in six at-bats. It would have been five of seven, but the last shot barely missed the stands and smacked off the wall.
Cedric Mullins and Austin Hays got things going in the third with back-to-back solo shots. One inning later in the fourth it was Ryan Mountcastle and Ramon Urias’ turn. And the Orioles led 4-0. Jorge Lopez had some of his usual fifth inning struggles. However he only surrendered one run on a sac fly, and the Birds held the lead. Not to mention that Lopez ended up pitching to a quality start.
Pedro Severino and Maikel Franco would add sac fly-RBI in the sixth. Ramon Urias would score a run by grounding into a double-play (no RBI) in the eighth. Not that the Birds needed it, however that was an insurance run. And the Orioles went onto win game one of three, 7-1.
The Orioles all but ended Washington’s season last weekend with a three-game sweep at Camden Yards. New York is a team that decided to buy (which was shocking to me, because I don’t see them catching Tampa or Boston). Are they re-thinking that decision now?
One additional point of note. That final run (the insurance run) doesn’t happen if Ryan Mountcastle doesn’t take up and go first to third on an out previously recorded in the inning. It late not have mattered tonight, but those sorts of things help you to win games.
The series continues tomorrow at Yankee Stadium. Alexander Wells gets the start for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by New York’s Gerrit Cole. Game time is set for just after 7 PM.
Birdland Crush 