The Baltimore Orioles provided Dean Kremer so much run support tonight that you almost wanted them to save some of it for another day. Toronto may have gotten on the board first, but the Orioles and Gunnar Henderson got the last laugh for sure. As did Dean Kremer, for the record. Kremer’s line: 6.0 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 6 K.
Kremer surrendered a run in the first on Guerrero’s RBI-single. However Toronto fell into a trap we saw with Kansas City over the weekend – scoring first, that is. Because once the O’s got cooking, they didn’t really let up.
Adam Frazier’s two-run homer in the last of the second put the Orioles in the lead. And they never looked back – only forward. One inning later Ryan O’Hearn smacked a two-run homer of his own. The Orioles led 4-1 at that point, and little did we know that the rout was on.
Following the O’Hearn homer, the O’s quickly loaded the bases again. That brought last week’s AL Player of the Week, Gunnar Henderson, to the plate. With the bases loaded…and you can fill in the blanks from there.
Henderson sent a deep fly ball to center, and it barely cleared the wall over the glove of Keven Kiermaier, who as many know has haunted the Orioles over the years with plays in the field. And with that, Henderson began his quest for another player of the week award, with a grand slam. He’s currently one of the hottest hitters in baseball, and yes he resides right here in Camden Yards.
That gave the O’s an 8-1 lead. Toronto would get one back in the fourth on Kirk’s RBI-single. But that was almost a token run. Especially given that the Birds kept the pressure on. In the last of the fourth Aaron Hicks hit his first Camden Yards home run (as an Oriole), smack off the right field foul pole. But wait – there’s more. They got RBI-singles in the fifth and sixth respectively off the bats of Anthony Santander and Adam Frazier.
Toronto would register two more runs on an eighth inning solo homer by Biggio, and an RBI-single by Kirk. They’d also plate a run in the ninth on a fielder’s choice, and a sixth run on a swinging bunt, but the Birds walked away with an 11-6 victory.
It’s tough to call this a statement game, because baseball’s not about that. A series can be a bit of a statement, but out of 162 games it’s tough to pinpoint one as a statement game. The Orioles sweeping this same Toronto squad last month at Rogers Centre was a statement.
However if there is such a thing as a “statement game,” that would be tonight’s game. Assuming of course there are still people out there who need to know for sure that this Orioles team is for real. They completely outclassed a hated division rival in this game. And in doing so, once again reminded the entire league that they aren’t going away.
The series continues tomorrow evening at Camden Yards. Kyle Bradish gets the start for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by Toronto’s Jose Berrios. Game time is set for just after 7 PM.
Birdland Crush 