Kyle Bradish had to grind for the Baltimore Orioles last night. On paper it should have been easy to at least qualify for the win with a seven-run lead. But sometimes things happen. Whether they’re fair or foul. Bradish’s line: 4.1 IP, 9 H, 7 R, 2 BB, 4 K.
The O’s picked up where they left off Tuesday night. Christian Encarnacion-Strand’s RBI-single gave them a 1-0 lead in the first inning. But that turned into an onslaught in a sense. Dylan Beavers followed suit with another RBI-single, and Leody Taveras cleareded the bases with a three-run home run.
Bradish struggled himself in the first inning. He got out of it without surrendering a run, but he put a couple of runners on before retiring the side. Maybe that foreshadowed later,
But the O’s kept going offensively. Pete Alonso smacked a two-run home run in the top of the second. That ran the lead to 7-0. One would think that would be enough in a sense. But the baseball God’s don’t always agree. St. Louis would get one back in their half of that frame with a solo home run by Gorman.
Bradish would record one out in the fifth before running into trouble. He would load the bases, and then give up a two-RBI single to Burrleson. Walker would add an RBI-double…but with a small twist.
It was a chopper down the third base line. It was ruled fair by the third base umpire. It was borderline, needless to say. But the umpire called it fair well before the ball would have gone over (or missed the bag). That’s not a reviewable play.
That led to a two-RBI double by Church. Suddenly that seven-run lead was only 7-6. After Bradish left the game, Church would proceed to steal third base. He would later score on a sac-fly RBI, and suddenly we were tied at seven.
You never want to be on the south end of a big comeback like that. But this is baseball. Sometimes these things happen. And it remained tied until the almost end.
Samuel Basallo led off the ninth the a single. He was immediately pulled for pinch-runner Luis Vasquez (who replaced Tyler O’Neill when he was sent to the IL earlier in the day). Vasquez would go to second on a wild pitch, bringing Christian Encarnacion-Strand to the plate.
Encarnacion-Strand has really stepped up with all the injuries. He’s been a godsend for this team both in the field, as well as at the plate. And he proved it again late, as his RBI-double scored Vasquez, sending the Orioles to an 8-7 win.
It’s easy to say that it should have never come to that – fair or foul. But games like that happen in baseball. And end of the day, the O’s scratched out a win. That shouldn’t be taken lightly no matter how it went down.
The series concludes this afternoon at Busch Stadium. Trevor Rogers gets the start for the O’s, and his mound opponent is yet to be determined. Game time is set for 2:15 PM.
Birdland Crush 