The O’s “swept” a rain-shortened two-game series from the New York Yankees this week, effectively taking the Bronx Bombers’ division crown chances from the emergency room to life support. After the two wins, the Birds now have an 8.0-game lead over New York, and thanks to the Seattle Mariners sweeping three from the Toronto Blue Jays, the O’s now also lead Toronto by 7.5.
The wins also gave the Birds an incredible 17-8 record since the All-Star break, with all of those games being against teams currently in contention. Now the O’s get a relative break, as their next 26 games are against teams currently at or below .500. If they can take care of the teams they’re “supposed” to take care of like they’ve been beating good teams, it’s possible this team could run away with the A.L. East crown.
As they say, though, that’s why they play the games.
It’s a good time to be an O’s fan.
Let’s take a look back at the two latest wins versus New York..
MONDAY
After a Brett Gardner triple to lead off the game followed by a Derek Jeter RBI groundout put the bad guys up 1-0, the O’s answered with one of their own on Nelson Cruz’s sac fly.
After that, things got a bit ominous for the Birds, as, in a very uncharacteristic sequence, they completely botched a run-down to hand the Yankees two runs and a 3-1 lead. The 2014 O’s looked a lot like the 2008 O’s for a moment here.
Then, things went from ominous to downright horrifying, as Manny Machado hit the ground in a heap following a swing on a ground ball to short.
Later that same inning, Adam Jones cut the deficit to 3-2 with an RBI single of his own.
After Manny went out, he was replaced by Chris Davis, who, oddly enough, came up – and came through – with the O’s still trailing 3-2 in the 5th. Davis’ monster blast put the Birds up 4-3, and they wouldn’t look back.
With the Birds leading 5-3 in the 7th, Nelson Cruz hit what is, to date, the longest home run at Oriole Park at Camden Yards this season, at 442 feet.
Far from being done, the O’s added three more in the 8th on this homer off the bat of Yankee killer Jonathan Schoop.
A David Lough infield single scored Davis, and the O’s padded their lead to 11-3.
After the game, Buck and Manny talked about Machado’s injury.
TUESDAY
On Tuesday, Mother Nature felt bad for New York, and saved the Yankees from another beat down.
Tuesday in Baltimore was characterized by a whole lot of a) rain and b) waiting for Machado’s MRI results. Both seemed to last all day, with the latter revealing just what we already knew – a sprained knee.
WEDNESDAY
When play in the series resumed on Wednesday night, Chris Tillman took the hill against Michael Pineda, who was pitching for the first time since April. Pineda had the O’s number early, pitching four perfect frames to start the night. A Francisco Cervelli homer put the Yankees up 2-0, but that would be the only runs Chris Tillman would surrender.
The question was, could the O’s put anything together? In the 5th, they finally did. Cruz led off the inning with a double, moved to third on Steve Pearce’s single, then scored on a Ryan Flaherty sac fly.
New York went to dominant set-up man Dellin Betances in the 6th, and he shut down the O’s bats completely. However, the Yankees pushed him a bit too far, as in his third inning of work, Schoop struck again.
Still in the 8th, following a Nick Markakis single and a Chris Davis walk that was just about as clutch as a walk can be, Adam Jones came to the plate against Sean Kelley.
Magic.
In the 9th, Zach Britton was a bit off, but thanks to the three-run cushion he was handed, was still able to nail down the save.
After the game, there were pies to go around, with Jones and Schoop getting one each. Manny looks like he’s moving all right here, so maybe a 15-day DL stint really will be all it takes to get him back on the field.
