We’re only a week into September, and the intensity is already almost too much to bear. With 23 games left on the schedule, the Orioles find themselves not only in the middle of a four-horse race for the AL East pennant, but a six-team scrum for the second and final wild card slot in the American League.
Heading into the Motor City, the O’s are just a game behind the second place Blue Jays, who fell off the top of the table after being dealt a sweep versus New York, and two games behind the Red Sox in first place. The resurgent Yankees have also rallied back in the second half and are just four games out of first.
The Orioles hold a slim one-game advantage over Detroit for the final wild card spot, while Houston lurks just two games behind Baltimore. The Yankees, who are just 2.5-games out of the playoffs, the Royals, who are 4.0-games off the pace of the Orioles, and the slugging Mariners, who despite a recent slump are just 4.5-games out of the playoff picture, still remain potent and dangerous threats as well.
Even the folks in Hollywood couldn’t script this type of pure drama.
The Orioles continued their current surge in form by not only taking two out of three versus the Rays in St. Petersburg, but they also came just a game away from busting out the brooms for the second time in a row against a division rival. Just in the nick of time it seems, the Orioles have injected themselves with a heavy dose of momentum.
Here’s to carrying that momentum into October…
After Logan Morrison belted a three-run shot off of Ubaldo Jimenez in the first inning on Monday, I think we all thought the same thing: please Ubaldo, don’t do this to us again…
What didn’t run through our minds was the possibility that Jimenez would throw a no-hitter from that point on; and he did just that. In fact, he was just one walk away from posting a perfect game from the second inning onward. I really hope someone bought him a bottle of wine after the game…
The Orioles’ suddenly in-form veteran retired the last 17 batters he faced in a row and 25 of the last 26 in the complete-game winning effort. All in all, Jimenez stifled the Rays hitters to the tune of just three runs on two hits over nine spectacular innings while walking just one and striking out six in the O’s 7-3 victory.
It was Jimenez’s first complete-game since June, 1st, 2011, and the Orioles first complete game since Miguel Gonzalez on September, 3rd, 2014.
The game remained tight until the Orioles opened the floodgates with two outs in the fifth. Chris Davis came through with a clutch two-RBI single to break the game open, followed by a RBI single by Mark Trumbo and the knockout blow by way of a two-run base hit by Jonathan Schoop. Before the Rays could record the last out of the frame, the Orioles scored five runs to take a commanding 7-3 lead.
Yovani Gallardo & Co. continued to stifle the Rays offense on Tuesday while the Orioles sluggers ran rampant in a decisive 11-2 drubbing of Tampa. After Davis tied the game at 1-1 with a solo shot in the second inning, the game remained tied until the Orioles unleashed a six-run blitzkrieg in the fourth inning. In two swings of the bat – a go-ahead two-run double from J.J. Hardy and a monstrous grand slam by Slammin Manny Machado – the O’s took an instant 7-1 lead going into the fifth inning.
Adam Jones’s solo blast in the eighth followed by a pair of RBI singles by Manny Machado and Pedro Alvarez in the ninth put the icing on the cake for the O’s in a totally dominant display of baseball.
Alas, a scrappy Rays squad would edge the Orioles by a score of 7-6 in a thrilling, back-and-forth series finale on Wednesday to avoid the sweep.
After Kevin Kiermaier took Dylan Bundy deep in the first, Hardy stepped up yet again with a clutch two-run double to take a 2-1 lead. The lead was gone in a flash, however, after Nick Franklin belted a two-run shot off of Bundy in the bottom half of the second.
Despite Michael Bourn’s first home run as an Oriole highlighting an Orioles three-run surge in the third inning, the Orioles couldn’t hold onto a 5-3 lead and found themselves tied after Kiermaier made Dylan Bundy pay again with a two-run single in the fourth.
Drew Stubbs came through with a big go-ahead RBI single, his first as an Oriole, to hand the Orioles a 6-5 advantage in fifth, but Corey Dickerson would level the score with a RBI single of his own in the bottom half of the fifth. The Rays would strike the KO blow by way of an RBI double by Dickerson off of Mychal Givens in the seventh and would hang on to take home a 7-6 victory after Alex Colome recorded his 31st save of the season in the ninth.
Let’s take a look at another impressive Orioles display in St. Petersburg:
– Highlighted by Ubaldo Jimenez’s stellar outing on Monday, the Orioles starters posted another impressive showing by recording a 4.58 ERA over 17 2/3 innings versus Tampa despite Bundy’s shaky start in the series finale. The Orioles rotation has registered a sparkling 2.57 ERA over the last 14 games.
– The bullpen seems to be on the mend again, and it couldn’t have been at the right time. The O’s relievers ended the series at The Trop with an impressive 2.16 ERA over 8 1/3 innings and now own a terrific 2.08 ERA over the last nine ballgames.
– The Orioles offense was mashing all series long in St. Petersburg, and finished the series with a superb .292 average as a team while scoring 24 runs on five homers.
– Over the last six games, the Orioles have recorded a .271 average at the plate along with 36 runs (six per game) and ten home runs.
– The Orioles have simply done what good teams do versus the Rays this year: record a lot more wins than loses. The Orioles now own a command 11-4 advantage over Tampa on the campaign and a stellar 9-2 mark over the last 11 contests.
– All hail the prince, Manny Machado. The Orioles star third baseman is hitting top form at the perfect time and will carry an eight-game hit streak into Detroit. During that span, Machado is hitting .323 at the dish with five runs, three homers and nine RBI. Over his last 20 contests, he is hitting a stellar .333 with 14 runs, five doubles, eight homers and 21 RBI.
That’s all for now, Orioles Nation…take a deep breath and relax on the off day today. I have a feeling your nerves are going to need it.
Until then, cheers to letting the good times roll!
