The Baltimore Orioles saw good Charlie Morton last night in the series finale in Tampa. This in a game the Orioles almost had to win – after blowing an eight-run lead the night before. Morton’s line: 6.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 7 K.
Tampa struck first, in the third. Morton hit Caballero to lead off the inning, he stole second base, was sacrificed to third, and then scored on Jansen’s RBI-single. However he shut Tampa down after that, minimizing the damage. And perhaps that was the first indication that the Orioles would have no carry-over from the night before. The inning didn’t balloon into something larger.
Similarly, a HBP yielded the Orioles a run to tie the game in the fourth. Gunnar Henderson was hit by a pitch, and he later scored on Ryan O’Hearn’s RBI-single. After Tampa took the lead, the Orioles countered immediately. Also a good sign.
This was a big game, mainly because of the night before. Not only did they blow an eight-run lead, but they didn’t get a hit the rest of the game following their eight-run second inning. That’s the sort of loss that can morph into an elongated losing streak. The Orioles showed early they were on it.
And Morton was eventually rewarded for his prowess. Colton Cowser smacked a three-run home run in the sixth, giving the Orioles a 4-1 lead. That felt like a decisive blow in a sense, but as we saw on Wednesday, Tampa’s a pesky beast that never quits.
They put two runners ins scoring position with nobody out in the seventh following a wild pitch from Seranthony Dominguez. However he struck out the following two hitters, and got the third one to ground out to end the inning. In the eighth Gregory Soto left two on when he departed with two out, and Bryan Baker walked a hitter to load the bases. He then induced a fly out, ending the inning.
Felix Bautista sent Tampa down 1-2-3 in the ninth to end the game. Again make no mistake that this was a huge win. And it wasn’t easy. Tampa had two golden opportunities to not only take the lead, hut to do so in a big manner in the seventh and eighth. And the bullpen came through. On the heels of a big loss, the O’s didn’t allow for any carry-over.
The game was stopped briefly in the seventh inning when Adley Rutschman sent a liner foul into the Tampa dugout. It was immediately evident that someone in the dugout had been seriously injured. A stretcher and a cart was brought to the scene, and reliever Hunter Bigge (currently on the IL) was taken away. He flashed the “thumbs up” to the crowd several times as he was wheeled away. After the game Tampa manager Kevin Cash told reporters that Bigge was coherent and undergoing tests at a local hospital. Best wishes to Hunter Bigge.
The Orioles now open up a three-game weekend series against the NYY this evening at Yankee Stadiun. Tomoyuki Sugano gets the start for the Orioles, and he’ll be opposed by New York’s Max Fried. Game time is set for just after 7 PM.
Birdland Crush 