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Sweating One Out

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The Baltimore Orioles broke a four game losing streak on Sunday by defeating the Tampa Bay Rays (52-48) 5-3. The game time temperature was 93 degrees in Tampa and there wasn’t a real break from the sunshine until a storm rolled in after the sixth inning and produced a two hour thirty-six minute rain delay. It was an uncomfortable day for the players, the umpires and the fans.

The temperature rose in the third inning when Ramon Laureano was called out on a check swing by the first base umpire John Libka, who ruled it a swing. Laureano slammed his batting helmet down in disgust with his back to home plate umpire James Hoye. The helmet bounced backward to home plate, triggering an ejection. Interim Manager Tony Mansolino tries to plead Laureano’s case but to no avail and he was subsequently ejected as well. The broadcast team speculated that Laureano thought he was the third out, not the second, and that caused his response. While we are speculating, this writer wonders if Mansolino told the umpire to eject him because the “argument” didn’t appear to be heated at all.

The bottom of the ninth certainly made palms extra sweaty. Felix Bautista was called upon to secure a 5-2 lead. Bautista issued a lead-off walk to Danny Jansen and then struck out Jose Caballero. Jansen advanced to secon on a passed ball before scoring on a Taylor Walls single. Chandler Simpson popped out to third for the second out of the inning. Back to back walks loaded the bases for Junior Caminero who struck out swinging; it did appear that he aggressively swung at ball four on a 3-1 count. Fortunately Bautista earned his 19th save of the season.

Jackson, Jackson & O’Hearn

The Orioles offense benefited from three homeruns, a lead-off homerun by Jackson Holliday, a third inning shot by Alex Jackson, his first as an Oriole and a sixth inning blast by Ryan O’Hearn, his first since June 24th.

Due to his early exit Laureano was the only starter to not record a hit. Jordan Westburg tallied two hits while Gunnar Henderson and Tyler O’Neill each hit a double.

Another Quality Start

Trevor Rogers (3-1) gave Baltimore another quality start, allowing 2 runs on 5 hits, including a homerun to Jansen in the fourth, with 2 walks and 3 strike outs over 6.0 innings of work. He earned the win while raising his ERA to 1.74 over 7 starts.

Staying In Place

Despite the win, the Orioles are currently still 8.5 games back in the Wild Card race mainly because six of the seven teams they have to jump have 10-game records equal or better than Baltimore’s; only the Rays have played worse over the last 10 games than the Orioles.

Eleven games now remain before the MLB trade deadline, four in Cleveland and seven at OPACY (Colorado for 3 and Toronto for 4). The Orioles need to go 8-3 over that stretch to reach Mansolino’s goal of five games below .500, a tall task indeed.

BOX SCORE

2025 Record: 44-54

Next Game: Mon. 7/21 @ 6:40 pm vs. Guardians in Cleveland