The O’s salvaged the finale against the Padres to remain alone in first place, but getting there wasn’t easy.
Good morning, Camden Chatters.
The Orioles just can’t make things simple, can they?
The good news is that they got themselves back in the win column and avoided a sweep against the Padres with an 8-6 victory in the finale. They put together one of their most explosive offensive innings in a long while with an impressive six-run third, amassing a huge early lead that seemed to exorcise the demons of the last few weeks of low-scoring losses.
And yet, the game still turned into a nail-biter. The Orioles, who blew a 6-0 lead to the lowly Marlins just three days earlier, nearly did the same thing again, letting the Padres crawl within 6-5 and bring the potential go-ahead run to the plate in a bizarre ninth inning before finally finishing things off. Check out all the details in Alex Church’s recap.
It was a three-hour, 19-minute slog that didn’t exactly erase all the problems that have plagued the Orioles over the last month. Questions still remain about their offense, about their pitching staff, and particularly about Gunnar Henderson’s defense. The O’s shortstop made two more throwing errors yesterday and failed to make a couple of other plays that were ruled hits. He’s got five errors in his last four games and 16 on the year. Gunnar has been badly pressing since the All-Star break and looks like a guy in desperate need of a day off.
The Orioles won’t have much time to bask in their victory. They’re back in action today at 3:05 for a doubleheader, their first of the season, to make up a May 14 rainout against the Blue Jays. The disappointing Blue Jays have been in sell-off mode leading up to the deadline, as you’ll read about in Stacey’s series preview later today, so the O’s have a golden opportunity to pick up a pair of wins in one fell swoop.
As we’ve seen recently, though, just because the Orioles are more talented than their opponent on paper is no guarantee that they’ll actually win. Pulling out yesterday’s victory, at least, could help springboard them out of their recent rut.
Links
Mullins crashes into wall to help Orioles preserve 8-6 win over Padres – The Baltimore Banner
If you haven’t yet seen the replay of Cedric Mullins’ latest game-saving catch, stop what you’re doing and watch. This is the kind of value Cedric provides to the Orioles that can’t be replaced, even if his offense never bounces back.
Zach Eflin excited to join Orioles – MLB.com
I’m confident that Zach Eflin will be a more impactful midseason acquisition for the Orioles than Jack Flaherty was last year, though I realize that’s not a high bar to clear.
Norby on home debut and staying numb to trade talk – School of Roch
Before this weekend, the last time Connor Norby had been at Camden Yards was to sign his pro contract, a night when Matt Harvey was pitching for the Orioles. How times have changed.
Orioles birthdays and history
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! Not a single player in Orioles history was born on July 29. Maybe they’ll remedy that at the trade deadline by acquiring…uh…Jack Suwinski?
On this date in 1988, the Orioles traded veteran right-hander Mike Boddicker to the Red Sox. Boddicker had spent his entire nine-year career with the Orioles to that point, posting a 20-win season in 1984 and throwing two postseason complete games for the world champion Orioles as a rookie in 1983. The O’s got a great haul in the return package: outfielder Brady Anderson, who went on to a stellar 14-year career in Baltimore (including a 50-homer season in 1996) and joined Boddicker in the Orioles Hall of Fame; and righty Curt Schilling, who ended up with the best career of them all, though not until after he left the Orioles.
On this day in 1997, the O’s reacquired designated hitter Harold Baines from the White Sox. The Maryland native Baines had previously played with the club from 1993-95 and went on to spend four more years with the Birds, posting a career .301/.379/.502 line in Baltimore. The sweet-swinging lefty was elected to the Orioles Hall of Fame in 2009 and the National Baseball Hall of Fame 10 years later.
In 2000, the O’s made a pair of trades during their ill-fated fire sale under Syd Thrift, dealing catcher Charles Johnson and the aforementioned Baines to the White Sox for catcher Brook Fordyce and three minor league pitchers who never made it to the bigs. They also sent closer Mike Timlin to the Cardinals for first baseman Chris Richard.
The Orioles have done some non-trade things on this date in history, too. Perhaps most significantly, in 2010, they officially hired Buck Showalter as their new manager, replacing Juan Samuel, who’d been serving in the interim after Dave Trembley was fired in early June. Showalter hadn’t managed in four years before taking the O’s gig, but he proved to be one of the best skippers in Orioles history, transforming the moribund Birds into a club that had the AL’s best record from 2012-16, reaching the playoffs three times.