The Orioles clinched a playoff spot and earned a come-from-behind, walk-off victory Sunday over their division rival, the Tampa Bay Rays, in additional innings earlier than a raucous, and typically nervous, crowd of 37,297 at Oriole Park.
With the Texas Rangers shedding in Cleveland, Baltimore earned its first postseason berth since 2016. Less than an hour later, the Orioles introduced the group to a roar as star catcher Adley Rutschman scored the successful run within the eleventh inning on a sacrifice fly by Cedric Mullins.
The 5-4 win offers the Orioles a two-game American League East lead over the Rays with 13 video games remaining within the season. Baltimore final gained the division in 2014.
The stress of the race was palpable Sunday. For Sean Monroe, the stress of the finale of the Orioles’ four-game sequence with the Rays had crept up on him as he stepped away from his spot on the proper discipline flag courtroom to gather himself.
One victory stood in the best way of the staff securing a wild-card spot. The risk of successful an AL East division title — and having the prospect to go deep into the playoffs — is inside attain for the primary time since 2014. To win the division, the Orioles want to finish the season forward of or in a tie with the Rays. Having gained extra video games in head-to-head motion, Baltimore holds the tiebreaker benefit over Tampa Bay.
For followers at this weekend’s practically sold-out sequence, the prospect of a division title weighs heavy.
“I really want us to win,” mentioned Monroe, who purchased his home in Pigtown to be near Camden Yards. He estimated he’s been to 60 video games this season.
Crowds on the ballpark have been amped up this season because the Orioles’ younger stars have propelled the staff to unbelievable success, prompting growing attendance. An Orioles cap giveaway additionally boosted attendance Sunday, with white caps dotting the same old sea of orange fan attire.
When Adam Frazier’s line drive on the backside of the ninth tied the sport 3-3, thunderous applause rippled by the stadium as 1000’s sprang to their toes and jumped up and down. The electrified crowd was met with a video board message that, due to a Rangers loss, the Orioles had clinched a playoff berth.
“We’ve been waiting so long for something like this,” mentioned Alex Darnell, a season ticket holder who watched the sport from the middle discipline roof deck bar together with his buddies. “I’m so happy.”
His pal TJ Gvochovski purchased a bundle of day-game tickets for subsequent season partially to get presale dibs on postseason video games. “The fact we can clinch the playoffs this series is pretty wild to me,” he mentioned.
Standing on the bar, the pair agreed that followers helped the staff shake off losses within the first two video games of the sequence. They estimate they’ve been to 35 video games collectively this season.
“The environment is fantastic,” Darnell mentioned. “Winning means everything to O’s fans, real O’s fans who were here when they were losing 120, 115 games, screaming at your TV saying, ‘I wish they’d be better.’ We deserve this.”
The Orioles are simply two years faraway from shedding 110 video games in 2021, the final of 5 consecutive seasons throughout which they completed with a shedding document — three of which included not less than 108 losses.
But these days are historical past because of a rebuilding mission that began in 2018 when Mike Elias was employed because the staff’s govt vice chairman and common supervisor. Soon after, he employed Brandon Hyde as supervisor.
Sunday’s end result was a milestone in that course of. And the walk-off win was a cherry on prime.
“To see the fans behind our dugout and fans behind home plate, that’s an amazing feeling,” Hyde mentioned. “I’m glad that they got to celebrate, and I’m glad that we made the city proud, especially the way we won, too. That was pretty dramatic.”
Fans erupted in applause after each O’s defensive out and base hit Sunday. By the eleventh inning, followers on each stadium deck stood to look at every Orioles at-bat. Their cheers reached a climax when Mullins hit a sacrifice fly to heart discipline that scored Rutschman with the successful run.
Thousands remained standing to look at because the staff pulled contemporary orange T-shirts over their jerseys. Printed on the entrance was a promise for the postseason forward: “Take October.”
With the division lead and the most effective document within the American League (93-56), the Orioles are on tempo to get a bye and face the winner of a wild-card sequence that will begin Oct. 3 between the Rays and a number of other potential groups: the Rangers, Seattle Mariners, Toronto Blue Jays or Houston Astros.
The Orioles open a three-game sequence Monday in Houston.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com