The Baltimore Orioles were treated to a quality start tonight by Tyler Wells. He was solid most of the night, save for the tail end of his outing. However he put the O’s in a spot to win, and that’s all you can ask of a starting pitcher. Wells’ line: 6.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 4 K.
The Orioles strung together three base hits in the top of the second to get on the board first. It ended up being Cedric Mullins’ RBI-single in the second that gave them a 1-0 lead. One inning later Adley Rutschman ‘s RBI-double extended that lead to 2-0.
Later in the inning Ryan O’Hearn’s RBI-single extended the Orioles’ lead to 3-0. While they were cruising at that point, the lead never felt secure – despite Wells’ dominance. And true to their history, New York answered.
They smacked back-to-back homers in the last of the fifth. One by Volpe, and the other by Higashioka. However to his credit, Wells pitched out of that inning and continued on for one more inning.
New York put two runners in scoring position in the last of the seventh, and all-star Yennier Cano almost pitched out of it. With two strikes and two outs, he uncorked a wild pitch, tying the game at three. The O’s got out of the inning without sustaining further damage, however as I said – to that point it never felt like the lead was safe.
And it took a three-run homer by Bader in the eighth to beat the O’s on this night at Yankee Stadium. New York scored six unanswered runs to close the game. And to win. It’s tough to beat a team when they put up runs in that manner.
The series continues tomorrow – afternoon baseball on the 4th of July at Yankee Stadium. Kyle Gibson gets the start for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by New York’s Clarke Schmidt. Game time is set for just after 1 PM.
Birdland Crush 