While it may have been too early to start sending out SOS signals, there was no doubting that the Orioles were in need of a jolt to shake off a somber week of Baltimore baseball heading into the Battle of the Beltways.
And what better way to revitalize your playoff chances than taking three of four and almost sweeping one of the hottest teams in baseball?
Down 1-0 in the third on Monday, Jonathan Schoop became the fifth Oriole to join the 20+ home run club this season with a solo blast to tie the game before Anthony Rendon launched a solo homer of his own in the fourth to hand the Nationals a 2-1 advantage.
The Orioles didn’t wait long to respond. In the bottom of the fourth, the Mark Trumbo & Chris Davis division of the Birdland Power Company came through in the clutch, with Davis’s equalizing RBI double preceding Trumbo’s go-ahead two-run shot, his 38th on the campaign. Danny Espinosa pegged back a run with a solo bomb in the seventh, but Zach Britton would later decisively nail down the Orioles 4-3 win in the ninth to remain an immaculate 38-for-38 in save situations.
Kevin Gausman continued the party on Tuesday by blanking the Nationals over six innings while the Orioles racked up six runs in the first three innings to take control of the game. Davis would later put the icing on the cake with his 30th home run of the season in the eighth inning, and the Orioles barely broke out of second gear to take home a breezy 8-1 win.
After winning the first two games of the series at Camden Yards, the Orioles didn’t skip a beat after taking the short hop to Nationals Park on Wednesday. Manny Machado’s two-run homer in the first highlighted a four-run outburst by the O’s in the opening frame of the contest.
The Nationals came back strong despite falling into a hole early on, and found themselves down by just a single run before the Orioles opened the floodgates with a five-run blitzkrieg in the eighth which was capped off by a massive three-run blast from Matt Wieters.
The knockout blow was served…right? Wrong.
Despite having a 10-3 lead, Daniel Murphy’s grand slam off of Parker Bridwell in the ninth revived the atmosphere at Nationals Park, but the home team’s rally eventually fell short as the Orioles squeaked by with a 10-8 victory.
Alas, Max Scherzer (8.0 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 10 K) took it upon himself to see that the Nationals didn’t get swept on Thursday, and led the Nats to a 4-0 triumph in the series finale.
Still, you cannot say enough about how excellent of a series this was for the Orioles, and how important it was to boost the confidence around the clubhouse before entering the AL-East heavy month of September.
Let’s take a look at the highlights from the Orioles impressive display versus the Nationals:
– The Orioles starters were spot on all series long versus the Nationals and finished the series with a sparkling 1.96 ERA over 23 innings.
– After allowing just two runs on three hits over six innings in Monday’s 4-3 win, Dylan Bundy has recorded a 5-2 record with an outstanding 2.95 ERA and 0.96 WHIP over his last seven starts. Kevin Gausman has also been in fine form over his last seven outings and owns a 4-3 record and a rock-solid 3.63 ERA with 43 K’s in 39 2/3 innings during that span.
– In contrast to the starters, the Orioles bullpen had a series to forget versus DC and finished the four-game set with an awful 8.25 ERA over 12 innings of work. Even Zach Britton’s run of 43 consecutive games without allowing a run was snapped (gasp).
– The dismal performance from the bullpen has become a worrying trend as of late. Over the past 20 games, the O’s relievers have recorded a terrible 6.44 ERA.
– Other than the exception of being silenced by Max Scherzer on Thursday, the Orioles potent offensive capabilities were on full display versus the Nationals and they finished the series hitting .246 (.286 through Wednesday) along with 22 runs and five home runs.
– The Orioles offensive attack seems to have found its early-season groove as of late, as the Orioles have posted a .266 average as a team over the last eight games while scoring six runs a game (48 total) and clubbing 19 home runs.
– The main catalysts of the Orioles surge on the offensive side of the plate have been the resurgent Chris Davis, who has recorded a .281 average at the dish (9-for-32) with nine runs, six homers and seven RBI over his last nine games, and the ever-dangerous Manny Machado, who despite having a seven-game hit streak halted on Thursday, owns a .314 average (11-for-35) with six runs, three doubles, three home runs and nine RBI over his last eight games.
– That’s not to exclude Mark Trumbo, who has also been spectacular lately and boasts a .269 average with eight runs, four home runs and eight RBI over his last eight contests.
– Or Jonathan Schoop, who has recorded a sparkling .322 average with six runs, two homers and five RBI over his last nine ballgames.
Lastly, the Orioles have taken a firm grip on the upper-hand in “The Battle of the Beltways” in recent times and now own a commanding 13-5 lead over the Nationals since the start of the 2013 season and a 20-10 advantage over them since 2011…even though there’s no ‘’rivalry’’ between these two clubs, I guess it’s worth something to some people to have a leg up on DC. Call me old-fashioned, but the Orioles’ real rivals wear “B’s” on their caps while the other ones wear pinstripes. That’s something that will never, ever change.
But I digress. Here’s to keep the good times rolling in the Bronx!
