A late night affair on Monday in Arizona resulted in a 5-1 win by the Baltimore Orioles over the Arizona DiamondBacks. In fact, the night was nice enough for the Chase Field roof to be open; the game time temperature was 82 degrees.
The Orioles saw RF Ryan O’Hearn set the tone in the first inniing with a two-out 388 ft. homerun to right field. O’Hearn hit a double in his next at-bat in the third inning before finishing the night 2 for 4 with a homerun, a double, 1 run scored and 1 RBI.
Prior to O’Hearn’s double, the Orioles scored their second run on an Adley Rutschman (1 for 4, R, RBI, BB) RBI single that allowed Gunnar Henderson, who had doubled, to score. Henderson is beginning to show that the intercostal strain he suffered during Spring Training is in the rear view mirror as he went 2 for 4 with a double, 2 runs scored, a walk and 2 stolen bases. We even saw a return of his walk bat throw on Monday night.
Henderson and Rutschman were a part of the Orioles fifth inning scoring once again. Henderson singled to open the frame, Rutschman walked and with one out, a Jordan Westburg (0 for 3, R, BB) walk loaded the bases. Henderson scored on a Cedric Mullins (0 for 3, RBI, BB) groundout to second base before Ryan Mountcastle (1 for 3, 2 RBI, BB) cleared the bases with a two-RBI single. Mountcastle narrowly missed a third inning grand slam homerun when his flyout to right field came up a few feet short of the fence.
Heston Kjerstad went 1 for 4.
A third straight quality start by Zach Eflin (2-1) kept the D-Backs in check. Eflin earned the win, his second, with a 1 run, 4 hit, 1 strikeout effort; he did hit a batter, however. Eflin probably could have come out for the seventh inning since he had only thrown 73 pitches (47 strikes) in facing 23 batters oner six innings but manager Brandon Hyde opted to go to the bullpen.
UPDATE (8:36 am): Eflin left the game due to shoulder fatigue.
The bullpen proved to be in shutdown mode. Yennier Cano (1.0 IP, 2 K), Gregory Soto (1.0 IP, H) and Felix Bautista (1.0 IP) closed out the contest.
2025 Record: 5-6
Next Game: Tues. 4/8 @ 9:40 pm in Arizona vs. D-Backs