Before the Orioles pack their bags for a nine-game road swing, they made sure to put on a show in front of the Camden Yards faithful in their penultimate series of this home stand. They Birds remained in excellent form over the weekend, banking three in the win column in the four-game set against the visiting Tigers.
The O’s found themselves sinking fast on Thursday after Jarrod Saltalamacchia’s solo shot in the fourth inning gave the visitors an early 2-0 lead, and the Tigers would open up a 5-0 lead by the sixth inning after RBI singles from Victor Martinez and Miguel Cabrera. The Orioles finally responded with an RBI double from Chris Davis and an RBI single from Jonathan Schoop to cut the deficit to 5-2 heading into the seventh.
The O’s followed by opening up the floodgates with a five-run, six-hit display in the bottom of the seventh in which Joey Rickard and Manny Machado kicked off the rally with back-to-back singles followed by back-to-back RBI singles from Davis and Adam Jones to cut the Tigers lead to 5-4. With two outs in the inning, Pedro Alvarez came up big with an RBI single to level the score before Schoop put the finishing touches on the O’s masterpiece of a rally. He came through with a triple to clear the bases, giving the O’s a 7-5 lead and eventual victory to take game one of four.
On Friday, the script was flipped by the phenomenal pitching duel between Chris Tillman (7.0 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 7 K) and Justin Verlander (8.0 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 8 K), which will probably go down as one of the best two-sided pitching performances of the season in the entire league. However, a solo blast from the blazing-hot Adam Jones in the sixth was the only tally the O’s needed to take the second game of the series with an old-fashioned one-to-nil victory.
On Saturday, the story carried over from the night before as Mike Wright (7.0 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 6 K) and Anibal Sanchez were locked and cruising through a nil-nil duel in the first five innings before the ever-dangerous Miguel Cabrera broke the 0-0 deadlock with a two-run blast in the sixth. The O’s responded swiftly with an RBI double from Mark Trumbo and a go-ahead two-run shot from Matt Wieters that gave the O’s a 3-2 advantage at the end of six. Schoop would add to the O’s lead with a solo bomb in the seventh, and after Victor Martinez pegged back a run with an RBI single in the top of the eighth, Adam Jones continued his excellent run of form with another solo homer to put the O’s up 5-3 in the bottom of the eighth.
But, the O’s weren’t finished just yet. After Jones’s homer, a walk issued to Chris Davis followed by a single from Trumbo had the Tigers on the ropes, and an infield single from Ryan Flaherty to load the bases had them swaying before Jonathan Schoop delivered the knockout blow with his second career grand slam to give the O’s a 9-3 lead and final. Just like that, the O’s were back where they started this season, on a seven-game winning streak.
The Orioles came into Sunday’s matinee with their sights set on taking a four-game sweep of the Tigers and extending their winning tear to eight straight, but alas, it was not meant to be.
The red-hot Cabrera gave Detroit an instant 1-0 lead going into the bottom of the first before the O’s responded immediately with an RBI double from Jones and a two-RBI single from Schoop to earn a 3-1 advantage going into the second. Detroit would however claw back by way of an RBI triple from Steven Moya in the third before a solo shot from Ian Kinsler leveled the score at 3-3 in the fourth inning. James McCann would give the Tigers a short-lived 4-3 lead in the fifth before Manny Machado launched his 11th homer of the year with a go-ahead two-run shot to make it 5-4 O’s going into the seventh.
Resilient through and through after scrapping so hard to not get swept, the Tigers would prevail in the end after back-to-back solo shots from J.D. Martinez and Miguel Cabrera off of Darren O’Day in the eighth gave Detroit a 6-5 lead. They would see that lead out in the eighth and ninth to take the last game of the series and end the O’s second seven-game winning streak of the year.
But hey, three out of four is excellent. Knowing Detroit, it’s anybody’s guess on how long they’ll stay down. If one thing rings true, it’s that you must beat good teams while they’re down. The O’s did a great job of that this series.
Now, let’s take a look at a few quick takeaways from the series against Detroit:
– The Orioles offense stayed hot against the Tigers, going 34-for-131 (.260) with 22 runs over the past four games. The O’s hitters also came through in the clutch a lot this series by going 11-for-29 (.379) with runners in scoring position and recording seven two-out RBI’s.
– The O’s attack has now racked up 56 runs over the past nine games (6.2 per game), and 17 HR’s in their last seven.
– Despite O’Day’s glitch on Sunday, the bullpen turned in a solid series versus Detroit, allowing just three runs over 12 innings with 13 Ks. They’ve also allowed just three runs over their last 20.2 innings, good for a 1.34 ERA during that span.
– Speaking of the bullpen, can we pencil in Zach Britton on the All-Star roster already? He’s 10-for-10 in save situations on the year with a gnarly 1.76 ERA and a stellar 0.59 WHIP.
– Chris Tillman can go on that roster, too. Along with his lights-out performance on Friday, Tillman has posted Cy-Young worthy numbers over his past five starts, going 4-0 with an outstanding 1.64 ERA and 1.12 WHIP with 36 Ks in 33.0 innings. The 28-year-old ace is 5-1 with a stellar 2.58 ERA and 1.17 WHIP on the year.
– Chris Davis is still in great form heading into Seattle after going 4-for-11 with four runs, one double and two RBI versus Detroit, and is 11-for-21 with six runs, four doubles, one homer and six RBI over his last six games. The two-time home run king is hitting .252 with six doubles, nine home runs, 25 RBI and a .368 OBP on the year.
– And lastly, the two stars of the show, Adam Jones and Jonathan Schoop.
Jones remained in sparkling form against the Tigers, going 7-for-15 with five runs, two doubles, two homers and four RBI. Over the course of his fantastic eight-game hitting streak, the 30-year-old is 15-for-34 (.441) with 10 runs, two doubles, four home runs and nine RBI. The five-time All-Star now boasts a .267 average with six doubles, five home runs and 18 RBI on the year.
But all of the diamond lights were on the red-hot Schoop, as he turned in the finest series of his young career, going 6-for-14 with two runs, one triple, two homers and 10 RBI versus Detroit including the game winning two-run triple on Thursday (his first career triple), a grand slam on Saturday and a two-run single on Sunday with the bases loaded. The 24-year-old now owns a .266 average with six doubles, seven homers and 22 RBI on the year.
In the last series against the Twins, it was the Davis/Jones show, and now Jones had another co-star in Schoop against the Tigers. Combined, the duo went 13-for-29 (.448) with seven runs, two doubles, one triple, four home runs and 14 RBI.
Sure, the O’s saw their win streak come to a halt before Detroit left town, but the Orioles are ten games above .500 at 23-13, tied for first place in the AL East, own a stellar 8-2 record over their past ten games and boast an MLB-best 16-6 record at home.
These O’s are flying high!
