If you happened to turn off the O’s game last night when the O’s were still down 5-1 going into the seventh, then you’re no doubt kicking yourself this morning.
Not only did you miss the huge comeback win, you also missed out on a piece of Orioles history.
After Chris Davis drew a well-earned walk to kick off the inning, what happened after was nothing short of astonishing. Mark Trumbo set off the fireworks by launching his fourth home run of the season over the centerfield wall. That chased Rangers starter Martin Perez, who was dealing all game long up until that point.
Off went Perez, on came Tom Wilhelmsen, but the O’s weren’t finished just yet. Not even close, in fact.
After a J.J. Hardy single, Jonathan Schoop then turned the game on its head with a two-run bomb to left that tied the game at 5-5. Nolan Reimold blasted a solo shot into the left field bleachers directly after that to give the O’s a 6-5 lead. Two outs later, and the inning is all but over, right? Wrong.
Manny Machado lined a double off of the right-center wall followed by Adam Jones giving the O’s a two-run advantage with an RBI single. Wilhelmsen then got the hook for Andrew Faulkner, but that couldn’t stop the bleeding for the Rangers either. Another gritty walk by Chris Davis would bring Mark Trumbo back up to the plate…
And then history happened. Trumbo crushed a three-run shot to left to give the O’s a 10-5 lead and became the first player in Orioles history to hit two homers in a single inning.
It was a truly incredible show to watch. And it was also a scary demonstration of what these O’s can do when they are all in sync. Schoop would add his 2nd home run of the night (And the O’s 5th) in the 8th inning to make it 11-5 followed by two shutout innings from Brad Brach and Zach Britton to lock up the O’s excellent comeback and win. Ballgame, and your Orioles are 8-2.
[Watch the Four-Homer Inning at EutawStreetTV]
And now, a few highlights from Trumbo’s historic night and a game that will go in the record books:
– Along with becoming the first Oriole to hit two home runs in one inning, Mark Trumbo became the 56th player in MLB history to do so. The last was the Toronto Blue Jays’ Edwin Encarnacion, who accomplished the rare feat on July 26th, 2013 versus Houston.
– Trumbo now has eight multi-HR games in his seven year career.
– Trumbo now has five home runs in his last five games along with seven runs and ten RBI. Also, he is now tied for 1st in the AL and tied for 2nd in MLB in HR’s.
– Friday night’s display marked the third time since August ’15 where the O’s have scored 9+ runs in a single inning. The last came on September 11th, 2015 against Kansas City when Nolan Reimold and Steve Clevenger both hit grand slams to boost the O’s to a ten-run eighth inning in a 14-8 win at Camden.
– The last time a club has hit four home runs in a single inning was on June 1st, 2013 when the Detroit Tigers accomplished this feat against the Orioles.
– This marked the third time that the Orioles have accomplished the feat of hitting four home runs in a single inning. The first was on May 17th, 1967 against the Boston Red Sox, when C Andy Etchebarren, OF Sam Bowens, 1B Boog Powell and 2B Davey Johnson all went deep in the 7th inning of a 12-8 victory at Fenway. The second time happened on September 5th, 1995 versus the California Angels, where Chris Hoiles, 3B Jeff Manto, LF Mark Smith and CF Brady Anderson all went yard in the 7th inning of a 8-0 victory at OPACY.
– The O’s fell one home run shy of tying the MLB record of home runs in one inning. Five teams have done it, with the last being the Milwaukee Brewers on April 22nd, 2006. And yes, the Orioles very own J.J Hardy hit a home run that game!
O, what a night to remember!
