The weekend sweep of the Angels was great, but the Rays and Yankees are looming.
Happy Monday, Camden Chatters! A weekend sweep of the Los Angeles Angels helps a lot in starting the week in a good mood. For all you fathers out there, I hope you enjoyed your big day. If you were at the game to see the Orioles win big, even better!
If you looked at yesterday’s lineup, you can be forgiven for thinking things were going to go horribly wrong. Colton Cowser and Ryan O’Hearn were banged up and out of the lineup. Jackson Holliday and Adley Rutschman had the day off. Gunnar Henderson was DH’ing and someone named Luis Vázquez played shortstop. On top of that, the Orioles were using Scott Blewett as an opener and the Angels had a lefty starter in Yusei Kikuchi.
And yet, it worked! Kikuchi did strike out 10, but also gave up five runs. Every starter other than Vázquez had a hit and leadoff guy Jordan Westburg was on base three times. Gary Sánchez hit a seventh-inning grand slam to break the game open. You can get all of the fun details of the game in Alex Church’s game recap.
The Orioles went 4-2 on their homestand after a 4-2 West Coast road trip. They are 10-4 over their last 14 games. After a weekend like we just saw, it’s easy to be optimistic about the future. But things are only going to get harder.
Starting tonight, the Orioles go on the road to play the Rays for four games and the Yankees for three. The Rays are in second place in the AL East with a 39-32 record and just finished a sweep of the Mets. The Yankees, of course, are in first place in the division. They were just swept over the weekend by the Red Sox, but still have a 3.5 game lead in the division.
It feels unlikely that the Orioles will keep up the pace over the next week that they’ve had over the past few weeks. But maybe they’ll surprise us.
Links
Updating Cowser and O’Hearn, explaining Blewett as opener – MASN Sports
This is from pre-game yesterday, but if you were wondering where Colton Cowser and Ryan O’Hearn have been, Roch Kubatko has your updates. Cowser is sore from running into a wall Thursday and O’Hearn hurt his ankle on Friday. Both were available off the bench yesterday, but thankfully, they were not needed.
Baltimore Orioles: Sánchez hits grand slam as O’s finish sweep of Angels – The Baltimore Banner
Tony Mansolino got cute with the lineup and the pitching yesterday, and it worked. I don’t hate that.
Surging Orioles getting closer to Mansolino’s goal with sweep of Angels – MLB.com
Mansolino’s goal is basically “just keep swimming, just keep swimming”
Birthday and History
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! You have three Orioles birthday buddies. Joe Saunders turns 44 years old today. Saunders wasn’t an Oriole for long, but he is fondly remembered. He came to the Orioles at the end of August in 2012 and joined the starting rotation for the final month. He started the 2012 Wild Card game and outdueled Yu Darvish to help the Orioles get their first postseason victory since 1997.
Also born on this day in history are 2005-2007 utility man Chris Gomez (54) and pitcher for the 1959 Orioles, Ernie Johnson (b. 1924, d. 2011).
On this day in 1986, the Orioles traded Dennis Martinez to the Montreal Expos after 11 years with the team. The trade helped Martinez revitalize his career, and he went on to win 100 games for the Expos in eight seasons, pitching in the majors until 1998.
In 2012, Jason Hammel pitched a one-hitter in a 5-0 win over the Braves. The one hit was a two-out single in the seventh inning by Jason Heyward. Hammel struck out eight in the game. Brian Roberts had two hits and three RBI as the leadoff hitter.
In 2015, the Orioles beat the Phillies, 19-3. Chris Parmelee hit two home runs in his first game as an Oriole, which is a great first impression. Manny Machado also went deep twice. Jimmy Paredes, David Lough, Chris Davis, and Ryan Flaherty also homered. Chris Tillman gave up three runs in six innings.
One year ago today, the Orioles also played the Phillies and beat them by a score of 8-3. Corbin Burnes allowed two runs in six innings. The Orioles hit four home runs, one each from Gunnar Henderson, Colton Cowser, Jordan Westburg, and Adley Rutschman. It was the team’s 47th win of the year.