The Orioles clinch a series win in a wild one over the visiting White Sox.
In a game that had everything, the Orioles topped the White Sox yet again, prevailing 4-2 on Saturday afternoon in Baltimore for a series-clinching win.
Jackson Holliday got the scoring started with a bang. The 21-year-old launched the third pitch out of Davis Martin’s hand for a solo shot onto the flag court in right field. It was the first lead-off home run of Holliday’s career, and it gave the O’s a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning.
Fast forward to the fourth inning for more scoring. With one out, Ryan O’Hearn doubled to right-center field, missing a home run by just a few feet. The recently promoted Coby Mayo cashed in on the baserunner with a hard line drive single to left field, scoring O’Hearn. Then…there was some drama.
Mayo attempted to sneak up to second base on the throw home. But it was cut off and Mayo was stuck in a pickle. He retreated back towards first base, but when the rundown throw got into first baseman Miguel Vargas’ hands, he turned back to second. Then, in a fit of desperation and insanity, he intentionally ran into second baseman Lenyn Sosa, who was well outside of the baseline. Mayo was left sitting on the ground with no where to go. The White Sox surrounding him didn’t look too pleased with the rookie’s move. Mayo was tagged out, and when he stood up he was confronted by Sosa. Mayo gave Sosa a shove, and that’s when the dugouts emptied onto the field.
Not much happened from there. The two teams met where the incident took place. Some shouting occurred. Then the bullpens (slowly) made their way onto the dirt as well. O’Hearn seemed to be the most fired up Oriole, but no one got too animated. No punches were thrown. No one was ejected. And the two teams went back to the benches. It was a poor decision from Mayo. Although you can understand his logic, Sosa was so far out of the way that Mayo came out of it looking pretty silly. But you can be sure that he will always remember his first career RBI.
Chicago got on the board for the first time in the fifth inning. Mike Tauchman doubled with one out, and then came in to score on an Andrew Benintendi single.
But the O’s took that run back, plus one more, in the bottom of the frame. After a Dylan Carlson double, Jorge Mateo put a ball up into the jet stream above Camden Yards and saw it carry right out of the park for his first home run of the season. Through five innings, it was 4-1 Orioles.
Dean Kremer was removed from the game after six impressive innings. He gave up just the one run on six hits, two walks, and seven strikeouts. The stuff wasn’t overwhelming from Kremer. It rarely is. But he pounded the strike zone and treated the White Sox like the bad offensive team that they are.
Call it veteran savviness or whatever you like, it worked. Kremer delivered one of his better starts of the season and has now allowed one run over his last 11.1 innings. That has brought his season ERA down to 4.70, just about where you expect it to be. Good work!
The Orioles relievers were not nearly as impressive, although they ultimately allowed just one run over three innings. It didn’t feel terribly easy.
Yennier Cano got zero whiffs in his one-third of an inning. The White Sox tagged him for one run on a double, a single, and a line out before he was yanked in favor of Keegan Akin.
Akin did induce two fly outs to end the seventh, but then walked Austin Slater to begin the eighth inning before he too was pulled.
Seranthony Domínguez was next out, and he may have had the most comforting outing of the bunch. He faced four batters, retired three of them, and got out of the eighth inning unscathed. But some more questionable outfield defense almost put that in jeopardy.
The first out of the eighth inning came on a fly ball to right-center field. Both right fielder Heston Kjerstad and the center fielder Mateo converged on the ball when their left arms collided. Mateo took the brunt of it. His arm jerked back in an odd way, and he immediately grabbed for his wrist/forearm. It was a brutal bit of deja vu. Mateo suffered a UCL tear last year on his left elbow in a similar collision on the infield with Gunnar Henderson.
This time, it doesn’t seem to have been as serious. Mateo did look hurt initially. Tony Mansolino and assistant athletic trainer Mark Shires went out to check on him. After some quick physical tests it was decided that Mateo would stay in the game. He did hit once more, but walked on four pitches, never even attempting a swing. He also stole a base, but slid in feet first rather than head first, and he was then lifted in the ninth inning for Jordyn Adams as a defensive replacement. One would imagine that some additional tests will be needed on that elbow to make sure everything is truly OK. The last thing the Orioles need is another contributor on the IL.
The ninth inning was Félix Bautista’s yet again despite throwing 29 pitches on Friday, something MASN color commentator Jim Palmer was not too pleased about. Bautista has pitched in back-to-back games just one other time this year, on May 20th and 21st in Milwaukee. So this is rather new for the closer, who is recovering from Tommy John.
Bautista did not look too sharp in this game. His velocity was down a tick or two, he walked two of the first three batters he faced, and featured several pitches that missed the zone by feet, not inches. Palmer’s disdain for the decision was more clear with every delivery. Mansolino started doubting in the dugout too. Andrew Kittredge began warming in the bullpen at one point.
But ultimately, Bautista got the job done, and did so by striking out the side to secure the Orioles 4-2 win. You can be sure that he is not going to be available on Sunday though, so get ready for some Kittredge and Bryan Baker action.
A lot happened in this silly game! Mayo got his first career RBI, and then incited a clearing of the benches. Kremer was quite good once again, and now looks like the solid back-end arm he has been for years now. Mateo nearly suffered another catastrophic injury in the midst of his best offensive game of the year. The bullpen was kind of a mess, but still worked out. And while Bautista was not sharp, but he got over another important hump by pitching in back-to-back games and being effective.
This win also nabbed the Orioles a series victory for the first time since they played the Angels three weeks ago. A win tomorrow would give them their first sweep of the entire season, and mark only the second time all year they have won three games in a row. Imagine!
The finale is expected to be a matchup of Charlie Morton (1-7, 7.09 ERA) and Adrian Houser (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 12 IP). First pitch is 1:35 pm from the finest park in baseball.