The Orioles defeated the Rockies 5-4 in front of a packed crowd
The Orioles got to win the series tonight thanks to some late action by the offense in backup of Kyle Braddish.
It was an emotional night in Baltimore, as a huge crowd filled the stands for Felix Bautista’s night. But Bautista will not play because he was placed at IL due to a Champions League injury. The weight of that has overshadowed everything about the game, but the Orioles still have a job to do. And though it was fragile at times, they did it.
Another solid outing from the starting pitcher, ample hitting, and resilience even without the largest contributor all led to a 5-4 win and series win.
On the Orioles mound was Kyle Braddish, a stalwart of the spin. After two solid first runs, he had a shaky third inning. I started with a Michael Tuglia double. Two singles led to Colorado’s first run of the game, and Braddish’s first out was an RBI hit of the second.
After those two runs, Pradesh was back in form. He came out in the third inning and hit the sidelines in the fourth inning. He allowed one baserunner in each of the fifth and sixth innings but ended the sixth inning with his eighth hit of the game.
Unfortunately, the Orioles offense didn’t look very hot against Rockies quarterback Chris Flexen. It was frustrating because the team was in the hole early at 2-0 and also because Flexen has been a pretty lousy player across the board this season.
They had a chance early in the second when the two Ryans (Mountcastle and O’Hearn) reached base with a pitch and single, respectively. But groundstrokes from Austin Hayes and Cedric Mullins crushed any heights. Mullins was the double play type. After that, the Orioles spent several innings mired in futility. Flexen hit a lot of batters, seven in all in his outing.
Finally, the Orioles got on the board in the fifth inning with a run made by Hays and helped by the Colorado defense. He walked to start the inning. While Mullins was hitting, Hayes stole second and went to third when Rockies catcher Elias Diaz made an errant throw.
With the field back up, Ramón Urías hit a ground ball to stop Ezequiel Tovar. Hayes drove home and Tovar fired the ball into the net. Diaz tagged Hays out and was called out, but the challenge revealed that Díaz was blocking the track and the call was overturned. Not the most exciting way to get a first-round hit, but luckily for the Orioles they had a few of them.
Flexen started the sixth inning and gave up consecutive singles to Gunnar Henderson and Anthony Santander. This led to his exit from the game as Rockies manager Bud Black made the longest and slowest visit to the mound in history to give a resting pitcher time to warm up. That pitcher was Tommy Doyle, and it wasn’t a good day.
The first batter Doyle faced was the hot Ryan Mountcastle. Mountcastle was already on base twice in the game, and this time he made a two-down run into left field that stayed just inside the foul line. Henderson and Santander each scored to give the Orioles a 3-2 lead.
The next batter, O’Hearn, moved Mountcastle to third base with a groundout to second. That production got really big when Hayes hit a ground ball to Tovar on shortstop. Mountcastle ran home and Tovar had the opportunity to get it. But he bobbled the ball and had to take it out on first instead. Mountcastle scored the fourth run of the game for the O.C.
Now armed with a two-run lead, Brandon sent Hyde Pradesh out to start the seventh inning. But that didn’t last long as Pradesh were withdrawn after giving up the lead double. In came Danny Colombe, whose name I always have to check before writing. And so began the relief pitcher’s run tonight, which we all knew could never end with Bautista.
Colombe struck out the first two batters he faced but then walked Charlie Blackmon. He was replaced by Jacob Webb, who caught an easy fly to end the inning.
Insurance’s run came in the bottom of the seventh, which ended up being very important. Jordan Westberg worked up front and was still on first with two outs when Santander came to the plate. He lined the ball down the third base side and Westburgh took off. Playing at the plate looked like it could be close but the throw wasn’t good and Westberg set it up. That gave the Orioles a three-run lead. They will need every one of those runs.
Webb returned for the eighth inning, and for once since coming to the Orioles, he looked so fallible. Walked Ryan McMahon, who came in to score Diaz’s double. It was the first run he allowed as an Orioles. This came in his tenth game.
Newly promoted DL Hall was the next man on the court, and he entered the game in a difficult situation. It got worse when Nolan Jones dropped an absolutely perfect hit to the side of third base. Hall sent and threw to first but it wasn’t even close. Suddenly the Rockies have top-three finishers with no ends.
But Hall was not broken. He looked really good in his first match since his promotion. He caused a double play with the bat of Brendan Rodgers. Diaz scored a goal but it was certainly an acceptable result. He struck out in the third without incident and the Orioles finished the top of the eighth inning, hanging on to a one-run lead.
I was hoping the Orioles could score a little in the bottom of the eighth, but they retired quickly instead. That sent us into the top of the ninth with a one run lead. But Omar did not blow his whistle tonight, which indicates the entry of the strongest player in the match. Instead, it was Yenier Kanu who said after the match: “I just wanted to make the best impression I had on him”.
There were shenanigans at first, however, when the umpires, after examining the standard glove, decided Kano’s glove had too much rosin in it. seriously? Imagine if Kanu found out he was going to replace Bautista and his response was: “It’s time to cheat!” In any case. The umpires had him replace his glove and Brandon Hyde was clearly upset.
If Kano shook, it did not appear. Two fastballs and a straight by Henderson on the shortstop and the game was over.
Orioles win, 5-4! It was the team’s 81st win of the season, and nothing to sneeze at. Their magic number to clinch the AL East is now 30 and they hold a three-game lead in the division. Tomorrow they’ll go on a sweep with Jack Flaherty on the mound for the Orioles.
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