Corbin Burnes gave the Baltimore Orioles perhaps his best start thus far this year in the series finale against Seattle. It’s tough to do much better than eleven strikeouts. And Burnes started mowing ‘em down early. Burnes’ line: 6.0 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 11 K.
And when your offense is scuffling slightly, you need a starter to grab the bulk by the horns like that. Which is precisely what Burnes did this afternoon. Was it as dominant as his Opening Day outing? Tough to say. But eleven strikeouts speaks for itself.
And Burnes never trailed. Gunnar Henderson’s solo homer in the last of the first gave the O’s a 1-0 lead. Following a Jordan Westburg double, Colton Cowser would double him home, and the Birds led 2-0.
The one semi-blip in the radar for Burnes was the RBI-single he surrendered to Urias in the second. But the Orioles came right back. James McCann’s RBI-double in the last of the second extended it to 3-1. And one inning later Ryan O’Hearn sent fans dancing into the aisles with a solo homer.
Offensively however maybe the most important thing that could have happened occurred just after that O’Hearn homer. After the Birds put another runner on, Cedric Mullins smacked an RBI-single, extending the lead to 5-1. Big play in the game, yes. But Mullins of course has been in a bad slump. That’s a moment to which we could look back and say he busted out.
But the were a couple of tense moments before pay dirt. Urias’ RBI-double and Rodriguez’s RBI-single in the seventh brought Seattle to within 5-3. Brandon Hyde used Coke Irvin out of the bullpen, and he closed out Seattle in the rest of the seventh and the eighth.
And the Birds even put an insurance run on the board in the last of the eight. And once again it was due to Cedric Mullins, with an RBI-single. Make no mistake, Mullins needed this game. Incidentally, he also stole his 100th career base this afternoon.
Another guy needed a good outing today, that being said Craig Kimbrell. Following the insurance run Hyde brought Kimbrell out for the first time in awhile in the closer role. While he started out the inning with two balls, he sent Seattle down 1-2-3, with two strikeouts. Had order returned to the Orioles’ pen? Time will tell.
The O’s now hit the road to open up a three-game set in St. Louis at Busch Stadium. Dean Kremer gets the start tomorrow night for the Birds, and he’ll be opposed by St. Louis’ Sonny Gray. Game time is set for 7:45 PM.
Birdland Crush 