The good news for the Baltimore Orioles today was that they picked up where they left off last night. The bad news is that they didn’t continue that trend as the game moved on, behind starter Kyle Gibson – who similarly started strong but cooled off. Gibson’s line: 4.1 IP, 9 H, 7 R, 0 BB, 2 K.
However again, the O’s started strong out of the box. Anthony Santander’s RBI-double in the last of the first got the Orioles on the board. Ryan O’Hearn and Adam Frazier followed with RBI-singles, and Jordan Westburg’s sac fly-RBI extended the Oriole lead to 4-0. This after one inning.
However Chicago bounced back. Two separate two-run home runs in the second inning swiftly tied the score. As I mentioned above, Gibson didn’t walk anyone. And these results combined with that stat does actually mean something. Gibson was getting TOO MUCH of the strike zone. He was dealing, and they were swinging.
Robert’s solo homer in the third gave ChicAgo a 5-4 lead. All in all, the ChiSox put up three runs in the inning, and led the O’s 7-4. However Anthony Santander would inch the Birds closer with a solo homer in the bottom of the inning, which cut the lead to 7-5.
But that was as close as the Orioles would ever be in this game. Anderson’s two-RBI triple in the sixth ran the lead to 9-5. Benintendi followed with an RBI-double, and the O’s dropped the series finale (and the finale of the home stand), 10-5.
You never want to lose games, especially against a team such as Chicago that you should beat. But we can also quickly forget how hard it is to sweep someone. Look no further than the fact that the Orioles themselves haven’t been swept since early last season to drive that point home. But if you keep on winning the majority of your series’, you’re going to be in the postseason in the end. And mark my words, the Orioles will be.
Birdland Crush 