First off, let me kick this off properly and take a moment to say happy Father’s Day to all of the proud dads out there, and I hope you all had a wonderful day yesterday!
Now, let’s get to the impressive showing by the Orioles this past weekend at Camden Yards.
Note that I said over the “weekend,” because Friday’s contest was brutal to watch. The Blue Jays jumped out to a 4-1 lead over the Orioles going into the fourth inning. However, they were just getting started. They opened the floodgates by pounding out seven runs off of Mike Wright (3.2 IP, 6 H, 8 ER, 3 HR, 1 BB, 3 K) and Ubaldo Jimenez (2.1 IP, 4 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 4 K) highlighted by a two-run shot by Justin Smoak, a two-RBI triple by Josh Donaldson and capped off with Michael Saunders cranking his second homer of the ballgame to give the Jays a massive 11-2 advantage.
Saunders (3-for-5, 3 HR, 8 RBI) would go deep again to record his first career three-home run ballgame to hand Toronto a laughable 13-2 lead in the sixth, and a Ryan Flaherty solo homer in the ninth would be the last tick on the scoreboard in the Blue Jays’ 13-3 blowout victory.
Moving on now, let’s not bring up this one again…sounds like a good idea to me.
The Orioles would bounce back nicely on Saturday. Fueled by the return of Yovani Gallardo (5.0 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 4 BB, 5 K), the Orioles jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning after Manny Machado doubled in a run before scoring on a passed ball by Josh Thole. Ezequiel Carrera pegged back a run for the Jays with a solo homer in the third, but Jonathan Schoop put the O’s back up 3-1 with a solo blast in the bottom of the third.
Devon Travis recorded an RBI double in the fourth to cut the O’s lead to 3-2, but their stellar bullpen would slam the door shut. Mychal Givens threw two scoreless innings and Brad Brach shut the Jays down in the eighth, but it would be the most improbable (and probably the most due, to be fair) O’s reliever that found himself in a jam in the ninth: Zach Britton.
After Travis singled with one out in the ninth, Britton uncharacteristically issued free passes to Darwin Barney and Russell Martin to set up a bases-loaded, one-out situation for the reigning AL MVP, Josh Donaldson.
This was about the point in time that I put my hands over my eyes, I’ll admit that.
But I’ll also admit that I was peeking through the cracks in my fingers to see Britton force Donaldson into a game-ending double play! Ballgame over! O’s win 4-2.
Decked out in their sharp blue-tinted jerseys, the O’s made sure to put on an outstanding show for their dads on Father’s Day.
The O’s went ahead instantly after an RBI single from Chris Davis and a two-run shot from Matt Wieters made it 3-0 in the first. However, the Blue Jays would tag Orioles ace Chris Tillman for four runs in the second inning off of a pair of two-run homers from Troy Tulowitzki and Travis to go up 4-3.
This was the last time that the O’s would face a deficit on Father’s Day Sunday. Ryan Flaherty equalized with a sac fly in the second, and the O’s regained the lead on a Schoop single in the fourth before Flaherty’s RBI double and Adam Jones’ RBI single propelled the O’s to a 7-4 lead.
The Jays nipped back two runs back in the seventh, but an RBI single from Wieters and a two-run monster blast from Schoop put the game to bed in the bottom of the seventh, and the O’s saw out an impressive 11-6 victory for the rest of the way.
By taking the last two games of the three-game set versus the Jays, the O’s took the series from their division rival and evened the season series up at 5-5. More importantly, they retained their top spot in the standings and gained a few games on their Canadian foes.
The Orioles also stayed red-hot at Camden Yards over the weekend. They own a spectacular 26-12 at home, and their 26 wins lead the entire league to date.
Now, let’s take a look at the highlights from this past weekend:
– If being 12 games over .500 at 40-28 wasn’t enough, the Orioles have dominated in “Series Play” this season. Their overall series record stands at a stellar 14-6-2, their series record at Camden Yards is a sparkling 9-1-2, and their series record against the AL East is now a superb 7-2-1. I know it’s early, but this is a sign of a true championship contender.
Before we dive into the gold mine of good stuff, let’s take a quick look at the negatives.
– Other than Gallardo’s solid and valiant return to the rotation, the O’s starters were sub-par versus the Blue Jays. Highlighted by Mike Wright’s nightmare of an outing on Friday which resulted in the 26-year-old rookie getting demoted (again) to AAA Norfolk, the rotation posted a woeful 9.22 ERA.
– The O’s pitching staff has allowed 60 runs over the past ten games and has allowed five or more in six games during that span.
– Ubaldo Jimenez: The saga continues. The veteran allowed five earned runs in his 2016 bullpen debut during Friday’s blowout loss…and he really has to be asking what he did to deserve this…
Now, back to the highlights:
– If you take away Jimenez’s dreadful relief appearance on Friday, the O’s bullpen was stellar, posting an outstanding 0.82 ERA over 11.0 innings of work against the Jays.
– Despite not having his best outing on Sunday, Chris Tillman is now 2nd in the AL in wins (10) and remains unbeaten since April 14th. We’re almost at the mid-way point in the season, and the O’s ace remains in the thick of early Cy Young award conversations.
– Highlighted by clubbing a season-high 19 hits on Father’s Day, the O’s sluggers recorded a sparkling .339 average versus Toronto while racking up 18 runs and four homers.
– The Orioles are 12-6 over their last 18 games, and to no surprise to anyone, the offense has been their main catalyst during that stretch. O’s sluggers have recorded 111 runs (6.1 runs per game) during that span while also racking up 38 home runs.
– After Matt Wieters and Jonathan Schoop went yard on Sunday, the O’s have now homered in ten straight contests.
– Speaking of Schoop, the O’s bright 24-year-old second baseman is now hitting a superb .406 with seven runs, three homers and eight RBI over his last eight games.
– Adam Jones stayed in fine form against the Blue Jays, and is now hitting .280 with eight homers and 19 RBI over his last 19 games while recording a base hit in seven of his last eight.
– Even though we all missed J.J. Hardy dearly, let’s take a minute to thank Ryan ‘’Flash’’ Flaherty for another stint of hard-played baseball, being the ultimate team player and doing so many of the little things that go unnoticed by many. Those Flash-haters can beat it at the moment, as the 29-year-old super utility player is hitting .283 with nine runs, two homers and nine RBI in his last 15 games.
The biggest takeaway for me had to be the team production versus the Blue Jays. Adam Jones went 3-for-12 with one RBI. Hyun-Soo Kim bounced back from a recent cold streak and went 5-for-9. Chris Davis went 3-for-4 with three runs, two doubles and one RBI, and Matt Wieters ended a 2-for-24 drought by going 4-for-5 with three, one home run and four RBI on Sunday. Even Ryan Flaherty went 4-for-8 with two doubles, one homer and three RBI against the Jays.
And who could forget about the dynamic Jonathan Schoop, who finished the series 6-for-13 with five runs, two homers and four RBI?
I guess my whole point is this; if at least two-thirds of our line-up is in fine form and is hitting the ball well, I like our chances against anybody. The O’s accomplished this feat versus Toronto.
That’s all for now, O’s nation!
Next, The Orioles will take on the Rangers for a one-off showdown in Arlington to make up a washout game that was originally scheduled on April 17th.
It should be a fun game to watch as both teams are soaring at the moment while currently topping their respective divisions.
Who knows? It may even be a playoff preview.
