Author Archives: Domenic Vadala

Welcome to Birdland Crush! Yes folks, for the record it's a spin off of the popular summer beverage native to the Mid-Atlantic Region - "orange crush." Nevertheless, I've been covering Orioles' baseball since 2009 in some capacity, and it's basically the greatest gig of all time so far as I'm concerned! But for those who aren't familiar with my work or bio, I'm familiar with pretty much every sport out there. But baseball is king - we all know that. So my hope is that you come back and check in after every Orioles' game, and throughout the off-season. I'm always on duty!

Baltimore Orioles: The Leody Taveras game

The Baltimore Orioles got another sparkling start out of Kyle Bradish last night at “The Big A” in Anaheim. Despite a rough start in Seattle, the Orioles really have a good shot to make this a great road trip. If they win tonight or tomorrow, it would be an above .500 west coast swing. Bradish’s line: 8.0 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 9 K.

Pitchers who have commanded the strike zone have succeeded this year. Bradish struck out nine Anaheim hitters last night, and in doing so he avoided nibbling. He simply overpowered the hitters. That’s the goal. That wins games.

Taylor Ward smacked the fourth pitch of the ballgame out of the park to give the O’s a 1-0 lead. Gunnar Henderson later led off the fourth with a walk. And we all know what that means – nothing good happens after a walk (for the team in the field, that is). Pete Alonso followed with a single, bringing Coby Mayo to the plate. And Mayo hit a ball far out of “The Big A,” giving the O’s a 4-0 lead.

Pete Alonso added a sac fly-RBI in the fifth, and Gunnar Henderson an RBI-triple in the seventh. Rico Garcia would give up a solo home run to Soler in the ninth, but he quickly righted himself. He retired the side 1-2-3 after that, the O’s took game on in Anaheim, 6-1.

However the bigger story in the game was Leody Taveras. The outfielder entered the game at third base for the first time in his career in the last of the third, replacing Blaze Alexander. Curious move.

As it turned out, Alexander had fouled a ball off his knee in the second inning, and it later locked up on him. For one reason or the other, the Orioles opted to insert Taveras at a position he’s never played in lieu of simply surrendering their DH, and moving Coby Mayo (the starting DH) into the field. I’m not suggesting that Kyle Bradish having to hit would have been ideal. But for my money it would have been the lesser of two evils as opposed to Taveras playing third.

But Taveras was flawless at the hot corner. The first hitter grounded a ball right to him, and he easily made the play. It makes you wonder if in the moment perhaps he didn’t have time to think about it and it sort of came more naturally to him. But one way or the other that saved the game. Anaheim was presented with a huge advantage, and Taveras didn’t allow them to take it.

Alexander was said to have a muscle contusion in his knee after the game. Craig Albernaz said he’d be “fine.” Again my personal opinion is that surrendering your DH would have been a better option, but Taveras at third worked out. This time.

The series continues tonight at Angel Stadium. Shane Baz gets the start for the Orioles, and he’ll be opposed by Anaheim’s Ryan Johnson. Game time is set for just after 9:30 PM,

Baltimore Orioles win until the “cows” come home in the City of Angels

While the City of Angels was on fire this morning due to a neighborhood fire raging out of control, the Baltimore Orioles sent Brandon Young to mound in Chavez Ravine. Young wasn’t at his best. But needless to say, he got the job done accordingly. And Oriole bats delivered – especially Colton Cowser. Young’s line: 5.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 5 K.

The Oriole Way jumped over Dodger Blue from the very beginning. And for once, it wasn’t close in the ninth inning. Samuel Basallo and Colton Cowser each smacked RBI-singles in the last of the first to give the Birds a 2-0 lead. Muncy would get one back for LA in the home half of the frame with an RBI-single, but that was the home team’s lone highlight in the game.

Instead, the Orioles turned the colors of this game to orange & black – similar to the fire roaring in Los Angeles as the game wore on. Taylor Ward’s solo homer in the second extended the lead to 3-1. Colton Cowser hit a solo shot of his own one inning later, as well as a two-RBI single in the fourth. When the smoke cleared, the O’s led 6-1.

The bats took a couple of innings off, but picked back up in the seventh with an RBI-double by Jeremiah Jackson. If the game hadn’t already been blown wide open, Pete Alonso’s three-run homer later in the inning did just that. And to prove the O’s weren’t kidding, Blaze Alexander’s two-run homer in the eight acted as an exclamation point.

With the 12-1 blowout win, the O’s took two-of-three from the defending champions over the weekend series. It was hit-or-miss after Friday night’s loss. But the O’s certainly battled back against Dodger Blue in a great way. Everyone contributed. With three to go on the three-game west coast road swing, the Birds are .500 on the trip.

The O’s now head down the freeway to open up a three-game set against Anaheim at Angel Stadium. Kyle Bradish gets the start for the Orioles, and he’ll be opposed by Anaheim’s Sam Aldegheri. Game time is set for just after 9:30 PM.

Baltimore Orioles: A career start for Trevor Rogers

The Baltimore Orioles got one of the best starts of Trevor Rogers’ career last night at Dodger Stadium. Anytime you only surrender one hit in the bulk of the game, you’re going to put your team in a spot to win. Rogers’ line: 7.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K.

Rogers mowed ‘em down from the beginning. Following Friday night’s debacle, this was a game the Orioles needed to win. Rogers did his part. Oriole bats did just enough.

The O’s put runners at the corners with nobody out in the second. Coby Mayo grounded into a force out at second, which scored Leody Taveras and gave the O’s a 1-0 lead. One thing I found fascinating is that Betts at short fielded the ball and took the force out at second, could he have not tried to nail the runner at home plate?

Maybe they thought the contact play wasn’t going to be on. Maybe the angle wasn’t ideal. Or maybe they figured it was only one run and they would get it back. Or that the Orioles would squander the lead. If it’s that last option, that’s a dangerous mentality.

With one out in the fourth the O’s loaded the bases. Keep in mind that this is a team that struggles with runners in scoring position. Jackson Holliday struck out, and you all but expected Blaze Alexander to do the same – or put the ball in play and record an out. But he didn’t – he smacked a two-RBI double down the third base line, giving the Birds a 3-0 lead.

The lead held up until the end. Los Angeles did threaten to spoil the party again, however. Ohtani’s solo homer in the last of the ninth cut the lead to 3-1. After putting a couple of additional runners on, Los Angeles got a second run when Edman reached on a fielding error by Leody Taveras in right field when he bobbled the ball. But the O’s closed out the final out, and took a 3-2 win at Dodger Stadium home – or back to their hotel.

That’s too close for comfort, however the Dodgers are the best team in the league. And the two-time defending champions. But a win is a win. And the Orioles will take it.

Before the game the O’s sent Adley Rutschman to the seven-day concussion IL after he showed concussion symptoms. Rutschman of course was hit in the head on a relay throw back to first base after he grounded into a force out on Thursday in Seattle. Not news the Orioles wanted to report. Not an injury that the training staff or anyone else could have prevented. Just something that’s about par for the course for this year’s Orioles’ season – and last year’s.

The series concludes today at Dodger Stadium.

Brandon Young gets the start for the Orioles, and he’ll be opposed by Los Angeles’ Emmett Sheehan. Game time is set for just after 4 PM.

Baltimore Orioles: You can’t game the system

With last night’s start for the Baltimore Orioles, Trey Gibson has the distinction of starting games in his first year both at Yankee Stadium and Dodger Stadium. Last night he wasn’t great. Beginning and ending with the fact that the game plan seemed to be to stay out of the strike zone overall unless absolutely necessary. But he did pitch out of a major jam, which is telling. Gibson’s line: 5.0 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 4 BB, 8 K.

Gibson seemed almost to have been told to not throw the ball in the strike zone. Granted, Los Angeles is probably the best team in the league. But you can’t surrender base runner after base runner and think that by putting the ball in play you’re going to record outs. With two on in the first inning Gibson felt compelled to throw a fastball to Muncy, who jumped on it for a two-RBI double.

Backing up just a bit, the Orioles also seemingly cause more headaches for themselves trying to game the system. Beginning with Taylor Ward trying to stretch a single into a double on the first at-bat of the game, and being thrown out at second. Ward led off the ballgame with a solid base hit which was quickly cut off. Odds are that made him think he could get to second, but was thrown out. That killed a rally before it started.

One inning later with one out and a runner on first, Pages lined an RBI-double to Jeremiah Jackson in left. First off, the pitch was out of the strike zone; when teams anticipate hittable pitches out of the zone, they know where to look. However that run (while ruled an RBI) came because Jackson slightly slipped and bobbled the ball, albeit briefly. It was a close play at the plate which was confirmed on review.

Again, you can’t game the system. The Orioles have been ravaged once again by injuries this year, such as Heston Kjerstad and Dylan Beavers. (Not to mention Chris Bassitt, Dean Kremer, et al.) But the answer isn’t playing infielders like Jeremiah Jackson in the outfield. In fact, they’re doing guys like Jackson no favors, as playing out of position makes them look inept as fielders. You have to put people in a position to succeed in anything.

Gibson proceeded to load the bases in the third with nobody out. However at that point for once, things started to work out. Gibson relied on almost exclusively breaking pitches. With the bases loaded, he struck out three hitters to get out of the inning. It’s fair to say that Gibson caused the traffic on the bases. But also fair to say he single-handedly got himself out of the jam.

Oriole bats came alive in the sixth with a two-run home run by Gunnar Henderson. He was followed by Pete Alonso, who smacked a solo homer which tied the game at three. One inning later, Jeremiah Jackson’s two-RBI single put the O’s in the lead at 5-3. A late lead…at Dodger Stadium?!

Part of the reason that Jackson was in the outfield was so his bat could get into the lineup. Whomever sends the lineup in probably sees that two-RBI single as justification. And needless to say, it is good that Jackson pulled that off. But my point remains the same; you can’t think that defensive metrics aren’t going to sneak up on you when guys are out of position in the field.

The Orioles carried that lead into the ninth. Remember, Ryan Helsley gave up a couple of home runs in his last outing against Seattle, but the O’s held onto win. He gave up a solo homer to Betts to cut the lead to 5-4. He also issued two walks in the inning.

With two outs, Rushing smacked a single to Tyler O’Neill in right, allowing the tying run to score. O’Neill all but air mailed the throw to the plate, which arrived up the third base line. Samuel Basallo did what he could to field the ball, but it wasn’t enough to prevent the winning run from scoring, and the O’s dropped a 6-5 game late at Dodger Stadium,

That final play is obviously more memorable given the fact that it ended the game. But the more glaring thing is Jeremiah Jackson’s slight mishap in the outfield in the second inning. That cost the Orioles a run by the slimmest of margins.

Is it fair to suggest that he showed why they needed to get him in the lineup with his go-ahead hit? Sure. But that illustrates the fact that the front office needs to put more of an emphasis on defense. If Jackson’s bat is that valuable, DH him. Make no mistake that an infielder playing in the outfield made a small mistake that cost the Orioles a run early. And the Orioles proceeded to lose a very winnable game by one run.

For the record, there’s not much blame that can be put on Jeremiah Jackson. He’s the guy who was set up to fail in a sense. The Orioles’ front office is trying to outsmart the system. You just can’t do that. When you put an infielder in the outfield, he doesn’t suddenly become a natural outfielder. Was there a hot dog wrapper on the field which caused Jackson to briefly slip, or did he briefly slip because he wasn’t playing his natural position? You can’t game the system.

Incidentally that final play – it’s one that many people think Basallo should have made. Maybe it is. But why did Tyler O’Neill decide to rush a throw home?

The series continues tonight at Dodger Stadium. Trevor Rogers gets the start for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by Los Angeles’ Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Game time is set for just after 10 PM.

Baltimore Orioles: Late night win

It begins and ends with starting pitching – for the Baltimore Orioles and everyone else. The Birds got a quality start in Seattle for the second consecutive game last night, this time from Kyle Bradish. He mowed ‘em down – Seattle hitters, that is – from the beginning. Bradish’s line: 7.2 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 12 K.

Twelve strikeouts. There’s something to that. Some of the best pitching outings that the Orioles have gotten this year had high strikeout totals from their own staff. This as opposed to pitching on the fringes of the plate with the idea that a high spin rate is going to induce putting the ball in play. All that’s done is induce soft contact and assisted opponents in getting on base. Twelve strikeouts is also a career-high for Kyle Bradish.

The O’s struck first when Gunnar Henderson smacked a two-run homer in the third. Bradish would surrender his one run one inning later when Canzone’s RBI-single got Seattle on the board. However Bradish also minimized the damage. Which is often a key to a quality start.

The O’s would begin to tack on in the sixth. Leody Taveras’ RBI-triple extended the lead to 3-1. It’s also worth noting that Tyler O’Neill robbed Raleigh of at the very least an extra-base hit in the sixth. Raleigh sent a deep drive to right field; O’Neill scaled the wall and caught the ball on the railing. O’Neill has seen a lot of criticism from fans for his lack of production at the plate, but that was as big a defensive play as you’ll see.

The O’s put runners at the corners in the seventh, and Taylor Ward drove in a run by grounding into a double-play. Not the ideal way to score, but it’s still a run. Jackson Holliday would smack a solo home run in the ninth as an insurance run.

The Orioles got Ryan Helsley back off the IL coming into this series. The one slight blip in the radar from last night’s game was that he surrendered back-to-back solo homers in the last of the ninth. Again, not ideal. But Helsley did seem to right himself and he sent Seattle down in order after that, soaring the Birds to a 5-3 win.

The series concludes this afternoon at T-Mobile Park. Shane Baz gets the start for the Orioles, and he’ll be opposed by Seattle’s Bryan Woo. Game time is set for just after 4 PM.

Baltimore Orioles drop late night pitchers duel

Brandon Young gave the Baltimore Orioles a quality start late last night in the series opener in Seattle at T-Mobile Park. Sadly, the bats didn’t cooperate once again. Young has been a pleasant surprise thus far this season, and last night was no exception. Young’s line: 6.0 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 4 BB, 2 K.

Taylor Ward jumped on the first pitch and almost smacked it out of the ballpark. However it hit off the top of the wall and Ward ended up on second base. He would later score on Samuel Basallo’s RBI-single to give the O’s a 1-0 lead.

That would have indicated that the O’s were going to put some runs up. However the issue is that despite that quick jolt on the first pitch, that was the only run the O’s scored – in that sequence and at all. You just can’t let opportunities go by the wayside like that. And it’s happening too often.

Seattle got to Young in the third on Rodruiguez’s RBI-single. That came on the heels of two walks. In a tight game, every base runner matters. However that was the only run that Young allowed in that sequence as well. He pitched himself into a jam, and minimized the damage.

Young gave a quality start, which is always outstanding. It’s a tragic twist of fate when it occurs in a losing effort. It’s certainly not Yonng’s fault that Oriole bats couldn’t muster anything. The Orioles only registered three hits in the entire game. That shouldn’t be the case.

Despite Young’s quality start, he can’t last forever in the game. He came back out for the seventh and Allowed two singles before manager Craig Albernaz pulled him. Those two runners would both score on a two-RBI single by Raleigh, sending the O’s to a 3-1 defeat.

It’s easy to say that Craig Albernaz left Young in too long. Granted that almost goes without saying. But pitchers can often lose it in a game very quickly. The real villain in this game would be the offense. Seattle pitchers struck out twelve Orioles. 12. They only had four opportunities with runners in scoring position, as they struggled to get on base. You can’t win many games like that.

The series continues tonight at T-Mobile Park. Kyle Bradish gets the start for the Orioles, and he’ll be opposed by Seattle’s George Kirby. Game time is set for just after 9:30 PM.

Baltimore Orioles: A loss on the fringes

Trevor Rogers didn’t pitch poorly for the Baltimore Orioles this afternoon. But he had just enough things go awry to hurt the O’s. Some within the bounds of his control, and some outside of it. Rogers’ line: 6.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 4 K.

San Diego’s Taylor led off the second inning with a bunt – which seemed fairly unorthodox. However the ball went back to Rogers, with Pete Alonso also making a play on the ball. Which meant that Jeremiah Jackson probably should have covered the bag. He didn’t, and Taylor was safe.

He would later score on another play involving Jackson at second. Duran grounded the ball to second, but it hit the bag and went into center field. My question is why did Jackson allow the ball to hit the bag instead of fielding it before it got there? Nevertheless, it went as an RBI-double. Tatis would tack on an RBI-single before the inning ended and the O’s trailed 2-0.

Jackson would quasi-redeem himself in the last of the fifth with a solo homer. However Duran would come on again in the seventh with one on. This following a walk – and nothing good happens after a walk. Duran smacked a two-run homer, breaking the game wide open.

The Birds would get one back in the bottom of the inning on Gunnar Henderson’s RBI-single. However Henderson and Jackson Holliday would combine to commit three errors in the top of the ninth. Tatis appeared to hit into a double-play when he lined out to Blaze Alexander in right field to end the inning. But…

…San Diego challenged the tag at the plate. And the umpire ruled that Wagner slide in safe by a fingernail before the tag at home plate. The O’s went 1-2-3 in the ninth, dropping the series. And the homestead before going out west.

Oriole pitchers, including Rogers (who pitched well) aimed for the fringes of the plate all day. Many of them missed. That combined with the bizzare stretch in the second inning surrounding Jeremiah Jackson…in various ways, this game was lost on the fringes.

Here’s another intangible point. San Diego indubitably seemed to use the theatrics in yesterday’s game (surrounding the hit batsmen) as fodder going into today. And you have to wonder if part of the reason Craig Stanmen fought as hard as he did with the umpiring crew was to fire up his team. Needless to say, the result today would indicate that it did.

Instead, Craig Albernaz seemed to try to diffuse the situation in his postgame comments – this last night. The professional term would be that he took the high road. Which in general is a virtuous thing both in life and in baseball. But is it possible that he inadvertently allowed the wind to be taken out of his team’s sails, and put into the sails of an opponent?

Baltimore Orioles: Nothing good ever happens after a walk

The Baltimore Orioles sent Trey Gibson to the mound this afternoon against San Diego, this in lieu of the injured Chris Bassitt. The young Gibson turned in a so-so outing, which is fine for a young pitcher. But he also set the tone early in the ballgame. Gibson’s line: 4.1 IP, 3 H, 6 R, 5 BB, 7 K.

Gibson gave up two two-run homers in the first inning. One off the back of Merrill (a Baltimore native), and the other off the bat of Taylor. Both came on the heels of walks. And nothing good ever happens after a walk.

But the Orioles immediately got back into the game. Pete Alonso smacked a solo home run in the last of the first. Samuel Basallo immediately drew a walk, and then scored on Leody Taveras’ RBI-triple. Nothing good ever happens after a walk (for the team in the field).

On top of that, Gibson stabilized. He started mowing hitters down with strikeouts. Again, it was a so-so outing for Gibson. It wasn’t disastrous. So he has a few things on which to hang his hat in this outing.

In the fifth however something good DID at least appear to happen after a walk for Gibson. He induced a nifty double-play…which on review was overturned. The runner at first was safe, so San Diego had one on and one out in lieu of two outs and nobody on. Big difference, especially when Gibson hit Bogaerts in the head in the next at-bat.

It was obviously not intentional. A littbit down the line in the game, Bogaerts would come out. However San Diego would also plate two runs in the wake of that with the bases loaded. Taylor sent a bloop RBI-single that was very softly hit into center, and Solak added a sac fly-RBI.

As I’ve said before, the O’s play their outfield very deep. Which in general is risky, but especially when you induce as much soft contact as the O’s do. It seems the last two years each time they’ve turned around someone else was hitting a bloop into the outfield – and getting on base.

San Diego would extend the lead in the seventh on a solo home run by Sheets – also an area native. But the O’s did try to rally. Pete Alonso’s RBI-double in the last of the seventh got the Birds to within 7-3. But San Diego wasn’t going to be stopped on this day. Duran would hit a solo home run in the eighth and they went home 9-3 winners. The ninth run coming on a solo home run by Machado in the ninth.

The sad thing about the Duran home run probably should have never happened. Duran’s. Their backup catcher, and he entered the game because the starting catcher Fermin got crossed up warming up a new pitcher, and had to leave the game. Depending on his and Bogaerts’ status’ San Diego may be playing with a short bench tomorrow.

The end of the game wasn’t without controversy, however. San Diego seemed to purposely target Gunnar Henderson in the wake of Bogaerts being hit – which seemed like nothing more than a tragic mistake. They threw at him twice, and missed both times.

Then with two out in the last of the ninth reliever Maranaccio drilled him. Henderson and manager Craig Albernaz were visibly upset, and the umpires huddled up. After a short discussion, Maranaccio was ejected.

Answer Craig Stammen wasn’t far behind, as he vehemently argued that the ejection was unwarranted given the lack of a warning. Gibson hitting Bogaerts wasn’t intentional, but if you want to retaliate, fine. They made their point in brushing Henderson. In short, they had their chance. They couldn’t do it. When they went back to the well again and in garbage time at that…needless to say it was intentional and the ejection was well-warranted.

The series concludes tomorrow at Camden Yards. Trevor Rogers gets the start for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by San Diego’s Walker Buehler. Game time is set for just after 1:30 PM.

Baltimore Orioles led by Shane Baz’s tentative five innings

Shane Baz struggled through one of those in between starts tonight against San Diego for the Baltimore Orioles. You’ll always have ten great, ten poor, and ten in the middle. That was tonight. Luckily the bats also showed up. Baz’s line: 5.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R (2 earned), 2 BB, 1 K.

Two of those runs were driven in by hometown boy, Gavin Sheets – son of former Oriole Larry Sheets. The first of those was in the top of the first on an RBI-double. However the O’s would immediately get even on Adley Rutschman’s sac fly-RBI in the last of the first.

The difference was that the Orioles didn’t stop at just one run in the first inning. Pete Alonso drew a two-out walk, bringing Samuel Basallo to the plate, who smacked a two-run home run. And that set the tone for the ballgame.

San Diego would inch back closer in the second on Tatis’ RBI-single. However the great thing about Baz’s outing and the defense behind him tonight was that they never allowed big innings to start to unfold. Whenever San Diego put a run on the board or a couple of runners on base; the rally would get shut down.

Jackson Holliday would tack on a sac fly-RBI in the fourth. Later in the inning Pete Alonso would come up with a runner on base, and he smacked his second home run in as many games. This one of the two-run variety. One inning later Gunnar Henderson tacked on a solo homer, the 100th of his career.

Sheets would plate his second run in the fifth on an RBI-single. Baz was clearly starting to tire, but Craig Albernaz got him through the fifth, qualifying him for the win. The Oriole bullpen was rock solid for the final four innings, and the O’s took game one of the series, 7-3.

Baz won tonight when he wasn’t perfect. That makes a difference. He tired quickly at the end. But the bullpen picked him up. And the Birds are now within three of .500.

The series continues tomorrow at Camden Yards. Trey Gibson gets the start for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by San Diego’s Randy Vasquez. Game time is set for just after 4 PM.

Baltimore Orioles: Big innings and an insurance run

Kyle Bradish got the start for the Baltimore Orioles tonight in the series finale against Seattle. A win for the Birds would tie the series, of course with the O’s heading to Seattle next week to play them again. Bradish’s line: 4.0 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 3 BB, 5 K.

Bradish surrendered a solo home run in the first at-bat of the game. However he stabilized himself – for a period. Mercifully Oriole bats gave themselves a bit of a cushion.

The O’s however were able to figure out Seattle starter Woo after one turn through the order. Colton Cowser tied it in the third with a solo homer. The Birds strung together a couple of base hits and a walk, and before you knew it they had the bases loaded, and the potential for a big inning.

Woo uncorked a wild pitch, scoring Jackson Holliday from third. This reinforces the point that when you get guys on base, anything can happen. To show that the Orioles weren’t kidding, Adley Rutschman smacked a two-RBI double to extend the lead to 4-1.

To top it off, Pete Alonso uncorked a mammoth two-run home run. The O’s led 6-1. And Bradish was dealing. Until he wasn’t.

Sadly Bradish fell victim to the same thing that Woo did. Seattle seemed to figure him out after everyone had seen him. Raley’s two-run home run cut the lead in half at 6-3 in the fourth. Canzone would follow with a solo shot back-to-back. Seattle would tack one more on on Rodriguez’s RBI-single before the inning ended.

When the smoke cleared the Orioles’ lead had shrunk to one run at 6-5. That’s not an ideal situation. But needless to say the ball was flying tonight. Adley Rutschman would tack on an RBI-single in the fifth, which proved to be a big run.

If only for the fact that it gave the O’s just a slight bit of breathing room. And that helped the bullpen to navigate through the remainder of the game, closing Seattle out. With how this series started, to come back and salvage a split is uplifting. Especially against a first place team.

The Orioles now welcome in San Diego tomorrow night at Camden Yards. Shane Baz gets the start for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by San Diego’s Griffin Canning. Game time is set for just after 7 PM.