Trevor Rogers was tasked with being the Baltimore Orioles’ stopper this afternoon in the series finale against Houston. The O’s had dropped the first three games of the series in pretty wild fashion. Today was different all around. Rogers’ line: 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 9 K.
Save for an elevated pitch count, you can’t really go wrong striking out nine. Yet Roger’s still lasted seven innings. And the O’s led early today. Gunnar Henderson’s solo home run in the first gave them a 1-0 lead.
Houston’s speed and aggressiveness would manifest in the third inning. Following a Smith walk he was sacrificed to season and stole third. He would later score on an RBI-single by Pena. That shows how important Houston thought today’s game was.
However Oriole bats couldn’t get much going after that for some time. At one point Houston retired 14 straight Orioles. However Gunnar Henderson’s single with two outs in the last of the sixth broke that up. He would then steal second, as well as third – with nobody covering the bag.
Ryan Mountcastle’s RBI-single would then give the O’s the lead back. Which after a 3-1 pitch that was out of the zone and called a strike, seemed like a long time coming. One inning later in the seventh, Luis Vasquez smacked a solo homer to extend the lead to 3-1. It was Vasquez’s first career home run. And it ended up being huge.
Rico Garcia came in for the eighth, and loaded the bases with one out. He would be replaced by Keegan Akin, who recorded the second out on a sac fly-RBI by Caratini. But he also got the O’s out of the inning, sent Houston down 1-2-3 in the ninth, and recorded the save.
The Vasquez home run was obviously the big play. But the X-factor was Trevor Rogers. He had a slow start with the O’s when he was traded here last year. But he returned to form in 2025. He needs to remain an Oriole going forward.
The O’s open up a four-game set with Boston tomorrow night at Camden Yards. Tomoyuki Sugano gets the start for the O’s, and Boston’s starter is TBD. Game time is set for just after 6:30 PM.
Birdland Crush 