Being forced into a one-day road trip due to Mother Nature’s course back in April, the O’s took a tough 4-3 loss on Monday night against the red-hot Texas Rangers, who extended their winning streak to seven games.
Despite the loss in Arlington, the Orioles (40-29) still hold a one game lead over the Boston Red Sox (39-30) after the Sox dropped a 3-1 decision to the White Sox in extra innings.
Along with their seven-game string of wins, the Rangers are now a stellar 9-1 over their last ten games and own the third-best winning percentage in the majors (71.4%) at home due to their glittering 25-10 record.
The Orioles kicked off the game with a bang in the second inning after an RBI double from J.J. Hardy, an RBI single by Adam Jones and another RBI two-bagger by way of the heating-up Joey Rickard to jump out to a 3-0 lead.
But Kevin Gausman coughed up his run support almost instantly to add to his woes, as Ian Desmond got the home team on the board with a solo shot before Bobby Wilson’s sacrifice fly in the third inning cut the O’s lead to 3-2. Right Fielder Shin-Soo Choo would give the Rangers the lead with a go-ahead two-RBI single off of Gausman in the fourth, and the Rangers bullpen would silence the O’s the rest of the way to coast to a 4-3 victory.
Now, let’s take a few quick takeaways of the one-and-done in Arlington.
– Gausman didn’t stop the bleeding for the O’s rotation, and the O’s starters have posted a dreadful 8.90 ERA over the last four games.
– After Dylan Bundy’s (3.0 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3K) excellent performance on Monday, the O’s bullpen (minus Jimenez) has registered a superb 0.64 ERA over the last four games. Even with Jimenez’s terrible outing versus Toronto, the bullpen’s ERA is still at a rock-solid 3.31 during that span.
– A little fact about me: when I grew up, one of my idols was the legendary Ichiro Suzuki. I even imitated his at-bat introduction (and nailed it, if I say so myself). Anyway, my point is that the O’s hitters have channeled their inner-Ichiro by posting an outstanding .351 batting average over the past four games with 22 runs. Over the last two games, the O’s are hitting a Cobb-like .425 (34-for-80).
– Jonathan Schoop stayed hot on Monday night by posting a 2-for-5 performance with one run scored. Over his last nine games, the 24-year-old second baseman is hitting .405 with eight runs, three homers and eight RBI.
– Joey Rickard continued his excellent run of form by going 2-for-4 with an RBI double. The 25-year-old is hitting an incredible .434 with four runs, two doubles, one home run and two RBI during his current six-game hitting streak.
– After recording an RBI single in the second inning, Adam Jones now has 20 RBI over his last 20 games. He’s also hitting .275 with eight homers during that span.
That does it for this one, O’s nation, and the Orioles end their season stand in Arlington with a 1-3 record in the Lone Star State. They’ll meet the Rangers again in the beginning of August at Camden Yards, but I feel like Monday’s game will not be the last time that the Orioles will fly to Texas this season…it might just be a little bit colder next time around.
