The O’s began their 14-game stretch against AL East foes by trouncing the Red Sox on Memorial Day.
Good morning, Camden Chatters.
The Orioles are going to be seeing a lot of their divisional opponents over the next two weeks. And they could hardly have gotten off to a better start than yesterday’s 11-3 blowout of the Red Sox.
Pretty much everything went the Orioles’ way. The offense erupted for their most prolific showing in weeks, scoring 11 runs for the first time since May 5, with bottom-of-the-order hitters Kyle Stowers, Cedric Mullins, and Jorge Mateo playing a big part. The pitching staff, led by a gutty Cole Irvin, held the Red Sox to nothing more than a trio of garbage-time runs. And a packed house of 40,951, the Orioles’ largest crowd since Opening Day, was on hand to enjoy the festivities. Other than the disastrous Orioles debut of Thyago Vieira, who allowed all five batters against him to reach base, it was one of the most complete Orioles wins of the year. Check out Mark Brown’s recap to read up on all the fun.
The O’s pulled a half game closer to the idle Yankees and now trail by just 1.5 games in the AL East, and are tied in the loss column. They also continued to distance themselves from the three stragglers in the division, pulling eight games in front of the Red Sox and nine in front of the Rays. They remained 10.5 games ahead of the last-place Blue Jays, who also won yesterday.
The Birds will face all of those teams over the next 13 games. After two more games against the Red Sox, they host the Rays for three, then hit the road for four-game series against the Blue Jays and Rays. If the O’s take care of business during that stretch, they can further bury those three AL East foes and set their sights on taking down the Yankees, whom they’ll next face in mid-June.
The race is heating up. And the Orioles, winners of five in a row, are heating up along with it.
Links
Kyle Stowers drives in four as O’s rout Boston 11-3 in series opener – Steve Melewski
I feel like Kyle Stowers should be playing more often, don’t you?
Thyago Vieira becomes 1st Brazilian Oriole – BaltimoreBaseball.com
As of now, he’s also the first Brazilian Oriole with an infinity ERA. I’ll be rooting for him to record at least one out in his next appearance, if he gets another one.
O’s in no rush for automated ball-strike system to reach MLB – The Baltimore Sun
I would sign up for an ABS challenge system tomorrow if I could. But as the Orioles point out, the technology might not quite be ready. The robot umpire uprising hasn’t begun just yet.
Because You Asked – Jaws the Revenge – School of Roch
Roch Kubatko tackles readers’ questions about the O’s outfield, Cade Povich, trade talks, pizza, and Red Lobster. This one runs the gamut, folks.
Buns on the run. Orioles take the hot dog race live with new mascots. – The Baltimore Banner
The Orioles unveiled a new, live-action hot dog race yesterday instead of their usual animated feature. Finally, the hot dogs have discernible facial features! I’m rooting for Mustard, who is clearly a nerd.
Orioles birthdays and history
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! And happy 36th birthday to right-hander Craig Kimbrel, the oldest current member of the Orioles. Kimbrel is back in the closer’s role after some early-May hiccups got him demoted for a bit, and his 429 career saves are tied with Boston’s Kenley Jansen for fifth-most in MLB history. Other former Orioles born on May 28 include righty Daniel Cabrera (43) and the late lefty Bob Kuzava (b. 1923, d. 2017), who played for the Orioles in their first two years of existence in 1954-55.
On this day in 1996, Cal Ripken Jr. had the most productive offensive game of his 21-year career, crushing three home runs and driving in eight runs — both single-game highs for him — in an Orioles 12-8 slugfest win in Seattle. Cal got his huge day started with a two-run homer in the fourth, then came through with a seventh-inning grand slam that gave the O’s a 9-6 lead. He punctuated the stupendous performance with a two-run blast in the ninth.
Random Orioles game of the day
On May 28, 1968, the O’s eked out an extra-inning win in Chicago, with Paul Blair smacking a 10th-inning homer off Hall of Famer knuckleballer (and former Oriole) Hoyt Wilhelm to lead a 3-2 victory. For eight innings, the game was a pitcher’s duel between Baltimore-born O’s righty Tom Phoebus and White Sox lefty Tommy John, who was six years away from undergoing the unprecedented elbow surgery that now bears his name. Each starter held their opponent to two runs in eight innings, but while Wilhelm stumbled in relief, O’s reliever Pete Richert worked two perfect frames for the win. The victory was the Orioles’ sixth in a row.