The away fans may have come roaring in on Friday, but that Sunday evening drive up I-95 must have been quiet after the Orioles outscored the Phillies 14-4 over the weekend to secure a statement series win. By the end of Sunday’s 8-3 rout, one thing was clear: the Orioles can’t just hang with the big boys. They are the big boys now.
One series does not a World Series contender make, but winning two of three against the NL’s best put an exclamation mark on a blistering start to June by the Orioles.
They ended May with a series-opening win against the Rays, bringing them to 36-19. Their .655 winning percentage to start the season put them on track for the franchise’s best season since 1970, but a daunting June awaited. After hosting the Rays, the Orioles would travel to Toronto and Tampa Bay for back-to-back four-game series before facing the Braves and the Phillies at Camden Yards.
The kicker? Those five series would come without a single off day, an especially brutal stretch for a team that placed John Means and Dean Kremer on the IL on May 31. O’s fans identified June as a nightmare stretch as soon as the MLB schedule came out, and the injured pitchers only tightened Baltimore’s margin for error.
They responded with 12 wins in 17 days, taking two in Toronto, mopping the Rays at the Trop, and winning four of six in interleague play. As it turns out, the Orioles were the hardest part of every other team’s month, including a hot (and well-rested) Phillies squad.
Friday night was one for the pessimists. Kyle Bradish hurled five valiant innings before exiting the game with an elbow injury, and the Orioles left 10 on base, going 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position. But there were still glimmers: three innings of no-hit ball by Keegan Akin, a solid 9th inning from Craig Kimbrel, and a game-tying run scored by Cedric Mullins on a wild pitch in extras. David Rubenstein even continued his growing habit of joining fans in the stands – he was up in the 370s on Saturday, taking pictures and distributing hats.
GAME-TYING PLAY AT THE PLATE!
What a slide by Cedric Mullins! 🤯 pic.twitter.com/uJDx8TqvSR
— MLB (@MLB) June 15, 2024
And then, of course, there was Anthony Santander. His slash line up to June 1 was .211/.263/.421 with just nine home runs – hardly the Tony Taters fans were familiar with. So far this month, he’s batted .295/.353/.721 including eight dingers, moving him into the top-10 league-wide.
Three of those came against Philadelphia, starting with a game-tying blast in the bottom of Friday’s 8th inning. The wild extra-innings affair felt like it was setting the stage for one of the best series of the year.
Santander had other ideas. Grayson Rodriguez scattered seven hits across seven innings and allowing just two runs, enough for the Venezuelan’s pair of 425-foot homers on Saturday to carry the day. Actually, “pair of homers” isn’t quite enough to adequately describe them:
ever seen a potato fly before? pic.twitter.com/nOdn90nOhm
— Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) June 15, 2024
A twice-baked Tony Tater. pic.twitter.com/BwhjsV4uOE
— Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) June 15, 2024
Mashed potatoes, indeed. Bryan Baker and Kimbrel added scoreless 8th and 9th innings, and the Orioles headed into Sunday’s rubber match hungry for a series win.
Santander wasn’t the only Orioles veteran to surge this month. Austin Hays leapt from a solid May to a 1.227 OPS in 11 June appearances, and Ryan O’Hearn returned to his early-season consistency with a .341 average. (I say this with only a touch of sarcasm: it’s amazing what having two productive outfielders plus a solid DH can do for a lineup!)
But on Sunday, it was Baltimore’s young guns who lit up Camden Yards, with home runs from Gunnar Henderson, Adley Rutschman, Jordan Westburg, and Colton Cowser, all off veteran Phillies ace Zach Wheeler. Tagging the NL Cy Young favorite for eight runs in five innings is exactly how Mike Elias drew up when he took the four players across his first three drafts. Same goes for Corbin Burnes’ 10th consecutive quality start, the kind of ultra-dependable workhorse ace the Orioles have lacked for…decades?
In that way, the Phillies series (and June in general) was the realization of Baltimore’s roster-building vision – the culmination of call-ups and cash considerations – and a confirmation of the feeling that despite the team’s early season success, they could still be so much more.
But the month isn’t over yet. 13 straight game days vs. the Yankees, Guardians, Astros, and Rangers close out June. The first two are the AL’s best this year, and the latter have dangerous lineups despite their disappointing records to this point. It won’t be an easy stretch by any means, especially not after a taxing start to the month.
The Orioles’ injury situation has only gotten worse, with Kyle Bradish going back on the IL on June 15, potentially joining John Means and Tyler Wells for the year. Meanwhile, Aaron Boone announced that Gerrit Cole would rejoin the Yankees’ rotation this week. His return will come not just against the Orioles on Wednesday, but against rookie Cade Povich, who was called up ahead of schedule with Means, Wells, and Dean Kremer on the shelf.
Tyler Wells had his UCL surgery today, the Orioles said. It is the internal brace procedure, not Tommy John.
The internal brace procedure, which reinforces the UCL with a tape-like suture, is an alternative to Tommy John that can result in a quicker recovery.
— Jacob Calvin Meyer (@jcalvinmeyer) June 17, 2024
Povich has pitched admirably in his first two outings, but his matchup with the reigning AL Cy Young represents the disparate state of the two teams’ rotations. The Orioles have the bats to compete, but their pitching staff will face their stiffest challenge yet in the form of a healthy Yankees lineup.
That challenge is also an opportunity. Baltimore can cut their AL East deficit to just a half game with a series win in New York, and take the lead outright with a sweep.
In the grand scheme of the season, does divisional pole position matter that much in mid-June? Not really, but it would show that Baltimore has graduated from warning track power to no-doubt dingers. The battle of I-95 is over and won, but the battle for the East has just begun.
