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Series Notebook: O’s Take Two from AL-Best Rangers

Orioles players congratulate each other after a win.
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Coming into a three-game battle against the AL’s best squad right after dropping two in a three-game set in Toronto, all eyes were on the Orioles to bounce back and hit the long and winding road on a high note.

And the O’s did not disappoint, taking two of three games while falling a win shy of sweeping the stacked Rangers squad.

The Orioles showed off in style in Tuesday’s 5-1 win in the series opener by clubbing four solo homers while the sparkling Dylan Bundy took another no-hitter into the sixth inning. He allowed just one hit over seven phenomenal innings of work while walking just one batter and striking out seven. The sky is the limit for the Orioles’ in-form rookie hurler.

Pedro Alvarez gave the O’s the lead with a solo blast in the fifth and Adam Jones would add another with a solo bomb of his own in the sixth.

Alvarez cranked another solo shot in the sixth, and after Texas changed pitchers, Matt Wieters followed directly after with a long ball to extend the O’s lead to 4-0. Elvis Andrus spoiled the shut-out bid in the eighth with a sac fly RBI off of Brad Brach, but a Chris Davis RBI single in the bottom of the frame would put the game to bed as the O’s saw out the 5-1 victory for the rest of the way.

After Carlos Beltran recorded his first home run in a Rangers uniform off of Kevin Gausman in the first inning on Wednesday, Mark Trumbo’s RBI groundout followed by Matt Wieters’ clutch two-run single off of Rangers ace Cole Hamels gave the O’s a 3-1 advantage going into the second inning.

Jonathan Lucroy would peg back a run with an RBI single in the second, but the game quickly turned into a pitching duel between Gausman and Hamels after the early scoring barrage. Neither starter nor either team’s bullpen would allow a run for the last seven innings of the contest, and the O’s sweated out a 3-2 triumph on the back of Gausman, who allowed just two runs on seven hits over seven innings with seven strikeouts in one of his finest outings of the season to date.

The excitement going into Sunday’s contest had been mounting since the announcement that Wade Miley’s Orioles debut would be pushed ahead and that it would be at Camden Yards and in front of the Orioles home supporters.

But despite a valiant effort in his debut, Miley allowed a solo shot to Lucroy in the first and later a pair of RBI singles to Ian Desmond and Beltran before exiting the game and as a result, the Orioles found themselves down 4-0 going into the bottom of the fifth.

Trumbo and Alvarez put the O’s right back in it, cutting the lead in half with back-to-back solo shots, and Hyun Soo Kim pulled the O’s within one run of the lead with another solo blast in the sixth.

However, the Orioles furious comeback attempt was stifled by the Rangers bullpen, and Rougned Odor would deliver the eventual knockout blow with an RBI double in the eighth to extend the Rangers lead to 5-3. Texas would see out the win with Sam Dyson recording his 23rd save of the season in the ninth.

Hey, while the O’s didn’t take their chance to bust the brooms out, they still took two of three against the AL’s best team. I’ll mark that down as a win in my book! Here’s to carrying this momentum into the road trip!

Now, let’s take a look at the takeaways from the Orioles-Rangers clash at Camden:

– Mark my words. If Dylan Bundy and Kevin Gausman can stay in top form, the duo along with staff ace Chris Tillman will lead this Orioles squad to not only October baseball, but late October baseball…or possibly early November. An explosive offense, an iron-clad defense, a stellar bullpen and a trio of sparkling starters = championship contenders.

– The Orioles starters were simply amazing (sans Miley- but he perhaps deserved a bit better than his final line showed) versus Texas and finished the series with a fantastic 2.84 ERA over 19 innings of work while allowing just two walks to 19 K’s combined. In fact, after the rotation’s impressive display versus the Rangers, the O’s starters have posted a solid 3.81 ERA over their last 14 outings while racking up 82 combined K’s over 80.1 innings of work.

– The O’s bullpen was impressive as usual over the three-game set against Texas, allowing just two runs on five hits over eight innings. The Orioles bullpen has now registered a glittering 2.35 ERA over the last 26 games while recording 81 K’s over 92 innings.

– While the Orioles sluggers certainly broke out the thunder bats versus the Rangers by clubbing seven solo home runs, they still managed to score just 11 runs over the three-game set while batting .244 (22-for-90) as a team. But after a ten-game stretch of hitting just .182 as a club on top of a twenty-game stretch in which they are hitting just .217 as a unit, the clash against the Rangers was a definite step in the right direction.

– The O’s win another series at Camden Yards…tell me something I don’t know! The Orioles have been ridiculous at home this season and own an MLB-best 39-17 record at OPACY, but have been even more remarkable as of late, posting a stellar 15-5 mark over the last 20 home games.

– After doing it twice versus Texas, the O’s have now gone yard back-to-back an AL best 12 times. It’s not worth much, but it’s still a pretty sweet tag to own.

– After recording two wins against his former club, Buck Showalter is now in second place on the Orioles All-Time wins list (519). Congrats, gaffer! Don’t bet on him catching Earl Weaver (1,480), though.

– Can we talk about Dylan Bundy again? Over his last three outings, the 23-year-old rookie owns a 2-1 record with a superb 1.53 ERA after allowing just three runs over 17.2 innings of work while racking up 20 K’s. Over his last seven games (four starts), Bundy owns a 2-2 record with a stellar 2.17 ERA and 1.00 WHIP on top of 37 K’s over 29 innings.

– Zach Britton has now gone 36 consecutive games without allowing an earned run. Unbelievable. The last time he did? April 30th versus the White Sox.

– Pedro “El Toro” Alvarez has been on a scorching run of form as of late and completely annihilated the Rangers at Camden Yards, going 5-for-7 with three homers and three RBI. The 29-year-old now boasts a .407 batting average with four home runs and five RBI over his last seven games and an outstanding .312 average with 11 homers and 20 RBI over his last 30 games.

– Welcome to Birdland, Wade Miley, and hello again, Steve Pearce! While not the flashiest acquisitions, these two veterans could prove their worth going down the home stretch in September and should provide a nice boost on the field and in the clubhouse along the way. I for one am excited to see what kind of impact they have on this squad.

That’s all for now, Orioles fans!

Here’s to letting the good times roll in the Windy City!

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