Now, they’ve got a chance to take a series win.
Hello, friends.
If you went to bed before the end of last night’s Orioles game, you missed seeing something that we haven’t seen from the team very much this year. They bounced back. After Friday’s tough loss, the O’s then were put in an early hole thanks to some rough pitching by Charlie Morton (not helped by some rough defense behind him). Many times this season, a tough loss sent them spiraling for days and falling behind within a game was pretty much the end.
On Saturday night, the Orioles wrote a different script for themselves. They found some resilience following a bad loss, and they found it after facing a 4-1 deficit after just one inning too. The Orioles battled back, getting closer with a Ramón Laureano home run and later taking the lead with an absolutely colossal Colton Cowser home run. The bullpen, in this case six relievers combined thanks to Morton’s short start, kept the Athletics off the board, and the O’s ultimately won, 7-4. Three weeks ago, that’s a game they lose.
Belatedly, parts of the plan are coming together. Cowser and Laureano are back from the injured list. It seems that all of Tyler O’Neill, Gary Sánchez, and Jordan Westburg will be back before much longer. There’s been better starting pitching recently, not that you’d know it from watching Morton in action last night. But even that was encouraging in a way, since, again, this is not a team that has been battling back. They managed to do it.
Can the Orioles follow up on this with another good game and win as they close out their series in Sacramento this afternoon? Winning this game will be important for keeping the good vibes rolling even though they lost their long winning streak on Friday. Losing a series to the Athletics, on the other hand, would feel like a halt to that momentum, especially with ten of their next thirteen games after today coming against teams that are currently above .500.
Tomoyuki Sugano is set to make the start for the Orioles. As of this writing, it’s TBD for the Athletics, which could end up being some kind of opener with a bulk guy strategy behind it. A deep start from Sugano would be helpful since so many relievers pitched in Saturday’s game for the Orioles.
Orioles things you might have missed
Baker’s a maker of All-Star talk (School of Roch)
To Bryan Baker’s credit, his reaction to this being brought up by some beat writer was, “I don’t know about all that. It’s a tough road.” Glad we’re in agreement.
Orioles react to playing at minor league park: ‘A spring training vibe’ (The Baltimore Sun)
The berm in the outfield at Sacramento is the biggest of the spring training vibes going on out there.
Orioles top 30 prospects June update (Baseball America)
You need a subscription for this one. It’s a rough update for the top two picks in the Orioles draft class from last year. There is some good news to be found.
Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries
Today in 1986, the Orioles were involved in what was, at that point, an American League record-setting game for nine-inning time of game. An 18-9 win over the Yankees took four hours and 16 minutes to complete. Lee Lacy hit three home runs for the Orioles and drove in six runs. Four future Hall of Famers were involved: Cal Ripken Jr. and Eddie Murray for the Orioles, and Dave Winfield and Rickey Henderson for the Yankees.
There are a number of former Orioles who were born on this day. They are: 2024 infielder Connor Norby, 2013-16 reliever T.J. McFarland, 1980-85 infielder Lenn Sakata, 1965-81 infielder Mark Belanger, and 1963 reliever George Brunet.
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: astronomer Giovanni Cassini (1625), composer Robert Schumann (1810), architect Frank Lloyd Wright (1867), and DNA science pioneer Francis Crick (1916).
On this day in history…
In 793, Vikings raided an abbey at Lindisfarne in modern-day northern England, marking the beginning of nearly 300 years of raids, conquering, and settlement by the Norse of the British Isles.
In 1663, a Portuguese army defeated the Spanish in the Battle of Ameixial, a victory that eventually led to Portuguese victory and independence in the 27-year-long Acclamation War.
In 1789, James Madison introduced twelve proposed constitutional amendments, of which ten eventually became enshrined as the Bill of Rights.
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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on June 8. Have a safe Sunday. Go O’s!