Jordan Westburg became the fifth Oriole to join the 10-homer club as the O’s began their four-game set with a bang.
Crab cakes and football home runs. That’s what Maryland does.
The Orioles opened their four-game set against Tampa Bay by doing what they do best, crushing three roundtrippers to extend their MLB-leading total to 98 and put away the Rays, 6-3. Three O’s relievers combined for 3.1 scoreless innings to stifle any thoughts of a late Rays comeback, wrapping up a well-played victory.
The Orioles got on the board early against Rays starter Aaron Civale, who had limited the Birds to one run in his most recent start. The O’s topped their previous run total against him in the second inning alone. Anthony Santander got it started with a line drive into the right field seats for his 13th home run. Don’t look now, but Santander is heating up. Since the start of June, he’s got nine hits in seven games, four of them dingers. An Anthony Santander who’s hitting to his full capabilities can be a game-changer for the O’s lineup.
Later in the second, Colton Cowser singled, and with two outs, Ramón Urías lashed a double into the left-field corner. Cowser steamed around the bases and was waved home, but a pitch-perfect relay turned by the Rays nailed him at the plate. Or so it seemed. The O’s challenged, and upon review, Cowser had made a fantastic fadeaway slide to keep his body out of the way of catcher Alex Jackson’s tag while swiping home plate with his hand. The call was overturned, and the Orioles’ lead increased to 2-0.
It didn’t last long. Cole Irvin, after cruising through a perfect first, gave one run back in the second on a Jose Siri home run, then another in the third when he allowed a single, a double, and a sac fly. He did at least strand the go-ahead run at third to keep the game tied. Irvin wasn’t getting torched or anything, but I wouldn’t say he was fooling a lot of hitters, either. Meanwhile, the Orioles wasted a golden opportunity to retake the lead in the fourth. After back-to-back singles to start the inning, neither runner moved an inch as Civale struck out Cowser, Cedric Mullins, and Urías in succession. That’s a big yikes.
Still, when you’re a team that can hit dingers seemingly on command, you’ve always got a puncher’s chance. And sure enough, the O’s went back to the long ball to pull ahead again in the fifth. With Gunnar Henderson aboard after a single, Ryan Mountcastle jumped on a Civale sinker and swatted it the opposite way, somehow muscling the ball just over the right-field wall for a two-run homer. Wow. Off the bat, that looked like a pop-up. Kid’s got some oppo power. It was #11 of the year for Mountcastle. Civale managed to eke out five innings but labored for 105 pitches to do so.
This time, Irvin followed with a shutdown inning — a scoreless fifth — but ran into trouble in the sixth that wasn’t entirely his fault. After retiring the first two batters, Irvin found the third out frustratingly elusive. Siri and Jonny DeLuca stroked consecutive singles, which in DeLuca’s case snapped an 0-for-27 drought. Taylor Walls then grounded a ball into the hole; Henderson snagged it but made an ill-advised, errant throw, allowing Siri to score. On the single and E-6, the Rays had cut the O’s lead to just one, still with two in scoring position, and Brandon Hyde pulled Irvin from the game. The lefty was so close to a quality start but just couldn’t get out of that sixth-inning mess.
Jacob Webb left the runners stranded with major help from Cowser in left field, who came charging in for a running catch on a Jose Caballero sinking liner that otherwise would’ve resulted in a go-ahead, two-run single. Between that catch and his great slide into home earlier in the game, Cowser played a role in the win. I won’t mention that he also struck out three times. Webb, for his part, worked 1.1 scoreless innings.
Knowing a one-run lead was too close for comfort, the Orioles added some breathing room in the eighth courtesy of Jordan Westburg. The O’s second baseman had been ice cold on this road trip, carrying a 1-for-16 until his fourth-inning single, but I’m gonna go ahead and say he’s starting to find it. With a man aboard against reliever Chris Devenski, Westburg flashed oppo power of his own, driving a shot into the right-field seats for a two-run dinger.
With his 10th roundtripper, Westburg joined Henderson (19), Santander (13), Adley Rutschman (12), and Mountcastle (11) to give the O’s five players with double-digit homers. No other team has more than three such players. Like I said: dingers on command.
At that point, the game was still close enough that the O’s had to use their high-leverage relievers but not so close that we had to panic at every Rays baserunner. In any case, there was only one, a Yennier Cano one-out walk to Siri in the eighth. But Cano retired the other three batters he faced — though he threw 26 pitches to do so — and closer Craig Kimbrel mowed through a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth, inducing a groundout and two foul pops, to seal the victory. That’s save #431 of Kimbrel’s prolific career, six shy of former Oriole Francisco Rodriguez for fourth place on the all-time list. If circumstances allow, he could surpass K-Rod by the end of the month.
After the letdown of the last two games in Toronto, it’s nice to see the O’s get back on the winning track and knock the Rays back under .500 while they’re at it. Three more games at Tropicana await before the O’s return home.