The gamers within the Orioles’ clubhouse let loose a collective groan.
Before their sport Thursday in opposition to the Toronto Blue Jays, the Tampa Bay Rays’ matchup in opposition to the Colorado Rockies was on the televisions in Baltimore’s locker room. Rays infielder Josh Lowe simply hit a go-ahead two-run house run en path to a vital victory in the course of a decent American League East race.
“They’ve done this all three games,” an Orioles participant stated, noting the Rays got here again to win every sport in opposition to the Rockies.
It was Baltimore’s — and Gunnar Henderson’s — flip Friday. With the Orioles trailing by one within the eighth inning in opposition to the Rockies, the sensational rookie hit a go-ahead two-run homer to propel Baltimore to a 5-4 comeback victory at Camden Yards.
“Well, we stay together,” supervisor Brandon Hyde stated. “These guys believe that we’re going to score late. We’ve done this before, so there’s confidence there. But, yeah, it’s a special group that is winning tough games late.”
Baltimore starter Cole Irvin was adequate, pitching six innings of four-run ball, however the Orioles trailed 4-2 within the fifth in opposition to the National League’s worst workforce. In the sixth, Austin Hays joined Ryan Mountcastle, who hit a shallow homer to proper subject within the first, with a solo shot that hardly cleared the outstretched arm of Colorado proper fielder Charlie Blackmon to chop the Orioles’ deficit in half.
Henderson’s two-run homer — the twenty second of his American League Rookie of the Year-caliber marketing campaign — put the Orioles’ bullpen able to slam the door on a 3rd straight win.
“It’s really important,” Henderson stated of come-from-behind wins akin to Friday’s. “Especially those games early in the year that some teams might give away, those are just as important as these. Just being able to take care of those and steal a couple games here and there, that really puts you in a good position.”
After Irvin, Shintaro Fujinami pitched two glowing innings to maintain Baltimore within the sport. He gave approach to Félix Bautista within the ninth, and the nearer retired the primary two batters and had two strikes on Michael Toglia earlier than exiting the sport with proper arm discomfort after stumbling throughout his supply. Left-hander Danny Coulombe entered and struck out Toglia on the primary pitch he threw for the second save of his nine-year profession.
The comeback win is Baltimore’s thirty ninth of the season and fifth when trailing after seven innings. The Orioles are 80-48 and on tempo to win 101 video games. They are three video games forward of the Rays atop the AL standings.
“All in all, this was a great team win,” Irvin stated. “Gunnar Henderson, what else can I say? Fuji coming in, doing what he does. Praying for Bautista no matter he’s obtained happening, don’t know what that’s. And then Danny having the ability to are available in and throw one pitch and get us the win.
“This is what our team looks like. We pick each other up when we need to, and the team definitely did that tonight.”
Irvin opened the sport permitting a base runner in every of his first 5 innings. The left-hander, whose season has been break up between Triple-A Norfolk, the Orioles’ rotation and their bullpen, is again beginning video games as the ultimate member of Baltimore’s six-man rotation.
He struggled to start the season after being acquired from the Oakland Athletics and was optioned to the minors in April. But after getting back from Triple-A in June, Irvin recorded a 3.00 ERA in his earlier 45 innings coming into Friday. He had allowed three or fewer runs in all seven of his begins throughout that stretch earlier than ending that streak Friday.
After Mountcastle’s 361-foot homer barely cleared the precise subject wall and Henderson’s sacrifice fly gave the Orioles a 2-0 lead, Baltimore’s bats went chilly in opposition to left-hander Kyle Freeland, who retired 12 straight throughout the subsequent 4 frames. The Rockies (48-80) clawed again to take a lead, as Elías Díaz singled house Blackmon within the third, Alan Trejo drove in a run on a sacrifice fly within the fourth and Ezequiel Tovar hit a two-run homer within the fifth.
Irvin ended his evening with a three-up, three-down sixth — essentially the most innings he’s pitched in a sport since July 7. He scattered six hits and one stroll whereas hanging out 5.
“I didn’t think Cole’s command was as good as it had been,” Hyde stated. “It’s a really aggressive offensive team. I thought he was in the middle part of the plate quite a bit. … But he went six innings for us and gave us a chance.”
Fujinami, additionally a commerce acquisition from the Athletics, adopted Irvin with two scoreless innings for his third straight good outing. The unstable reliever has struggled at occasions in high-leverage conditions, however in his previous 4 innings in lower-stress environments he’s struck out six, allowed two hits and issued zero walks. The win was Fujinami’s first as an Oriole.
“Fuji tonight was the pitcher of the game for us,” Hyde stated. “He won us the game there. … I love the strike-throwing ability he’s showing right now and how aggressive he is in the strike zone.”
Hays, who went 2-for-3 with a stroll, hit an opposite-field house run that traveled simply 371 ft and would have left the park in simply 12 of 30 MLB stadiums, in line with Statcast monitoring information. After hitting .314 with an .853 OPS earlier than the All-Star break, Hays slumped to start the second half and noticed these numbers fall to .279 and .754, respectively. But in his previous 9 video games, Hays is slashing .344/.462/.813 — good for a whopping 1.275 OPS.
His stroll within the eighth arrange Henderson’s left-on-left lengthy ball off Rockies reliever Brent Suter, who entered with simply two homers allowed in 58 innings. Henderson, who leads the Orioles in Baseball-Reference’s wins above substitute, is hitting .251 with an .815 OPS.
“Gunn is just having an amazing rookie season,” Hyde stated.
Around the horn
- Hyde named Kyle Bradish as Saturday’s beginning pitcher, persevering with the cycle of bumping up his starters one evening after Jack Flaherty was scratched Wednesday. With a time without work Monday and the Orioles’ elongated system with a six-man rotation, Bradish is lots rested to make the beginning. Hyde stated the membership is hoping Flaherty, who stated he was unable to start out Wednesday as a result of he didn’t bodily “bounce back” from his most up-to-date outing, can begin in “the next couple days.”
- John Means began the fourth sport of his minor league rehabilitation project Friday. Means, who’s recovering from Tommy John elbow reconstruction surgical procedure, was moved as much as Triple-A Norfolk, throwing 4 1/3 innings and progressing as much as 72 pitches. The left-hander allowed one run on 4 hits and two walks whereas hanging out two. He averaged 90.8 mph on his fastball and topped at 92.5 mph — inside his typical vary, however two ticks slower than his common heater in 2021. He generated six whiffs on 28 swings, however his bread and butter when he was Baltimore’s ace throughout the rebuild was inducing smooth contact. He did so Friday, with the common exit velocity of the 12 balls put in play in opposition to him at simply 78.3 mph. Means might get one or two extra begins earlier than his rehab project ends in early September. It’s unclear what position Means will play if he returns to the Orioles.
Rockies at Orioles
Saturday, 7:05 p.m.
TV: MASN
Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM
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Source: www.bostonherald.com