Orioles flatten Rockies behind Zach Eflin’s dominant seven innings, 6-1

Everything was good today. Eflin had a perfecto through five innings, the bats woke up against Rockies pitching, and the Yankees lost.

Maybe it was Baltimore’s own Michael Phelps dropping by that inspired the Orioles to greatness today. The 23-time Olympic gold medalist visited the Orioles clubhouse before the game and the booth during it. Maybe it was Old Friend Ty Blach’s pitching that awakened the bats. Maybe Zach Eflin is just going through a renaissance right now. Maybe the Rockies just aren’t very good.

Whatever it was, today was orange-colored dominance from start to finish. The Birds hung five runs on the Rockies starter and added a sixth off the bullpen when Jackson Holliday singled, stole second and scored on Gunnar Henderson’s second hit of the day. The Orioles needed just a fraction of these runs, however, because they had Zach Eflin. Fresh off a 10-day stint on the IL, Eflin delivered a stunning performance: seven one-run innings, including a perfect game through five, with a season-high nine strikeouts and 18 swings and misses.

This was the kind of lopsided outing Orioles fans have been waiting for for some time while the team wallowed in the mud in July and August. The Orioles scored early, again in the middle innings, and again late. And thanks to Eflin’s seven dominant innings, a Baltimore ‘pen that used six relievers on Saturday got some needed rest, with manager Brandon Hyde able to go to low-leverage late reliever Gregory Soto for a low-pressure ninth inning. Despite two ground-ball singles, Soto put the Rockies to bed, flashing the high heat he’s known for.

That was about all the suspense there was in this game, and sometimes that is nice.

Let’s go back to the first inning. Ty Blach came out pitching like the Ty Blach Birdland knew all too well from 2019. Blach walked the first man he saw, Austin Slater, allowed a line drive single to No. 2 hitter Anthony Santander, and gave up an RBI single to Gunnar Henderson, one of only three lefties in the lineup today. There was a chance to do more, but Emmanuel Rivera, the hero on Friday, hit into an inning-ending double play.

The Orioles had only one baserunner in the second and third innings, but the magical runs spigot opened in the fourth. It was not entirely Blach’s fault but he didn’t look good, either.

Blach walked Eloy Jiménez on four pitches. With one out, Coby Mayo came out and rapped a single the other way. Right fielder Jake Cave went to field the roller, but it trickled under his glove! Jiménez, slow as he is, rounded third and came home to score the Orioles’ second run on the error. (Here’s the clip: come for Jiménez’s run around the bases, stay for him waving himself home.) Cedric Mullins hit a pop-up to shallow right that neither the second baseman nor the unlucky Jake Cave could get to. Call it a single, sure, why not. It scored Mayo to make it 3-0 Baltimore.

Next up was the masked marvel James McCann. Ty Blach went 3-0, landed a sinker, then threw the same pitch. It was a mistake.

The Orioles now had a 5-0 lead, and this was much more than their not-so-secret-anymore weapon Zach Eflin needed. The 6’6” right hander rolled through this lineup three times effortlessly. He completed six innings on a miserly 59 pitches. His command was pinpoint—42 of his first 53 pitches were thrown for strikes—and his curveball was unhittable: he got a career-high 13 swings-and-misses on the pitch.

Eflin was not just dominant, he was perfect through five innings. Of the first nine Rockies he faced, five went down swinging. He retired the side on seven pitches in the second and struck out the side swinging in the third. The first baserunner he allowed all day was on a 50.6-mph roller up the third base line in the sixth. A ball didn’t leave the infield until the seventh inning.

That seventh was the inning the Rockies finally made Eflin work, as the righty appeared to tire a bit. Eflin surrendered a two-out infield single, a line drive single to right, and then an RBI single to left. The Rockies had themselves a run. Well, fine. Eflin struck out his ninth hitter immediately after to end any thoughts of a comeback and his afternoon.

The Orioles earned themselves a sixth run off reliever Anthony Molina. Jackson Holliday singled to lead off the seventh inning, stole second, and scored when Gunnar Henderson, looking peppier today, delivered his second hit and RBI on a single to right.

The Birds would waste a chance to further pad the lead after James McCann hit a leadoff double in the ninth. With two outs, Eloy Jiménez struck out with the bases loaded. But that was OK. With a five-run lead, Gregory Soto got a chance to close out the game, and he wasn’t bad at all. He allowed two baserunners, but he also ended the game with a swinging strikeout on a 98-mph fastball.

A great day all around for the Orioles. With New York having lost 14-7 to the Cardinals (oh no! how embarrassing!), the Yankees’ AL East lead is down to half a game now. Masked man James McCann had a multi-hit day, including a two-run home run. Zach Eflin not only looked fresh coming off the injured list, he looked unhittably brilliant. As an Oriole he’s now 5-0 with a 1.95 ERA. Who is this guy? Baltimore desperately needs a rotation anchor right now, and if Eflin continues this way, it gives you some much-needed confidence that these Orioles can make a real run down the stretch.