Austin Voth took to the mound for the Baltimore Orioles against Oakland last night, as they looked to win their fifth consecutive series. He had a bit of a rough go in the first inning, but only gave up one run. He didn’t stick around long enough to qualify for the win, however. Voth’s line: 3.1 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 4 K.
Oakland loaded the bases in the first inning, and they took a 1-0 lead on a sac fly-RBI by Murphy. But that lead was short-lived. When you’re a team out of contention (and Oakland was eliminated from playoff contention about a week ago) and you’re playing a team IN contention. That’s how it can sometimes go. Nobody knows and understands that better than the O’s.
Ryan Mountcastle smacked a two-run homer in the last of the first, giving the Orioles the lead at 2-1. Mountcastle had been in a slump for the past few weeks, but in the past few games his bat had showed signs of coming to life. And it couldn’t come at a better moment in the season.
Just to show he wasn’t kissing Mountcastle did the same thing in his next at-bat. He came up again in the third with one man on, and smacked another two-run homer. One inning later in the fourth, it was Cedric Mullins’ and Anthony Santander’s turns respectively. Their solo home runs broke the game wide open at 6-1.
Adley Rutschman would add an RBI-single in that fourth inning as well. However the competitive part of the game was over. Oakland was spotted an early one-run lead, but quickly stepped aside. Rutschman would add a solo homer of his own in the eighth, and the Birds took this one, 8-1.
As I said, Mountcastle appearing to put his slump to bed is a great sign. And it couldn’t happen at a better time, as this is shaping up to be the biggest month of consequence for the Birds in years. They need all of their weapons to overcome the teams in front of them and get to the Promise Land.
The series with Oakland concludes this afternoon at Camden Yards. Spencer Watkins gets the start for the Birds, and he’ll be opposed by Oakland’s Adrian Martinez. Game time is set for just after 1:30 PM.
Birdland Crush 