The Baltimore Orioles and Kyle Bradish were reminded last night of why baseball is such a great game. Oriole bats couldn’t do much until late. But neither could Kansas City. Bradish’s line: 5.1 IP, 10 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 7 K.
Bradish was good last night. Plain and simple. They say that solo home runs won’t hurt you. That is assuming you can muster a single run preferably more. If you can’t do that, yes solo home runs will very much hurt you. As we moved through the game, the solo homer by Caglianone in the third seemed to stand up for Kansas City.
Gunnar Henderson led off the game by being picked off at first base. It happened again in the ninth. Those may have been the Orioles’ best shot to get on the board.
Until it wasn’t. Samuel Basallo’s RBI-single in the top of the ninth drove in a run, tying the game at one. Basallo was down to his final strike – as were the Orioles. The teams couldn’t score in the tenth, but with the ghost runner being a factor, Dylan Beavers’ run-scoring single in the eleventh gave the Birds a 2-1 lead.
Down to his final out and strike in the bottom of the inning, Witt smacked a run-scoring single. Also the result of the ghost runner. And we played on.
You have to work hard to win a game at the big league level. It isn’t easy. Luckily the Orioles have guys who are gamers as well.
The ghost runner of course is in play in every inning of extra’s. Samuel Basallo led off the twelfth for the Birds, and smacked a run scoring single putting the O’s back in the lead at 3-2. A single and a walk later, the bases were loaded with nobody out.
Leody Taveras came to the plate with the O’s smelling an insurance run or two. Taveras didn’t deliver that – an insurance run or two. He didn’t better than that. He smacked a grand slam, propelling the Orioles deep into the lead at 7-2.
And they needed all of those runs in a sense. Kansas City loaded the bases also, and Loftin’s bases-clearing double cut the lead to 7-5. But the O’s closed it out after that, to take game one in Kansas City.
The season is young. But this is the biggest win of the year to date. The O’s struggled at the plate all night. But every time it really mattered, they found a way. It may have been at the eleventh hour, but they found a way.
The series continues this evening at Kauffman Stadium. Shane Baz gets the start for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by Kansas City’s Kris Bubic. Game time is set for just after 7:30 PM,
Birdland Crush 