O’s Surge Continues as They Rack Up the Longballs

Finally the Orioles win a series with their 7 to 5 victory against the Cincinnati Reds today, their first series win since they swept Oakland from June 6th to the 8th. With the win, they have now gone 5-5 in their last 10 but have been on fire offensively.

Before I go into the details of how the O’s scored 7 runs, here’s a look at the box score. Nick Markakis went 3 for 5 with 2 RBIs to extend his hitting streak to 16 games. He’s hitting .405 in that span. Adam Jones went 2 for 4, D Lee went 1 for 3 with 3 RBIs, Reynolds went 1 for 3 with an RBI, and Brandon Davis went 2 for 2 with 2 runs scored and a walk.

As for the pitching box score, Guthrie went 5 2/3 innings and just like I hoped for in the game preview, got a mix of how it’s been all season. He pitched an okay game but got run support. He definitely didn’t dominate but also got out of trouble a few times without too much damage. He gave up 6 hits and 4 runs with 4 runs and 5 strikeouts. Fortunately for him, he got the win putting his record at 3-9 but he did raise his ERA to 3.93.

This game also marks the 4th game in a row where the O’s have scored 4 or more runs, of which they have gone 2-2.

The game remained scoreless until the 3rd inning when Brandon Davis got a single and then stole 2nd. With 2 outs, Nick Markakis hit an RBI single to score Davis and make it 1-0. In the next inning, Adam Jones reached on an infield single followed by Vladdy hitting a single. With that, Mr. Hot D Lee came to the plate and cranked the ball 400 feet to put the O’s up 4-0. After Luke Scott struck out, Mark Reynolds came to the plate and jacked the ball 440 feet to go up 5-0. Unfortunately, he also had 2 freakin errors in the game giving him 18 for the season, which is how many he had TOTAL last season. We aren’t even half-way through yet. That’s bad.

The Reds got on the board the next inning with Brandon Phillips hitting a solo homerun. They scored again in the 6th when Guthrie gave up an RBI single to Heisey. With 2 outs, Guthrie then walked Brandon Phillips putting him on 1st and Heisey on 2nd so Showalter brought Rapada in as Guthrie’s pitch count was up near 110. Rapada did NOT do his job as he walked Joey Votto to load the bases. So, Jim Johnson was brought in and guess what he did. Yep walked in not one but TWO runs to let the Reds come within 1 run at 5-4. It was really pathetic.

Luckily, Nick came through again in the 6th and hit an RBI single to score Brandon Davis who had walked, got to 2nd on a sac bunt by Craig Tatum, then reached 3rd on a wild pitch. In the 7th, Luke Scott added a run to the O’s lead with a solo shot at 410 feet putting the O’s up 3 at 7-4. Koji did his thing in the 8th and Kevin Gregg came to the mound in the 9th. Of course, he gave up a leadoff homer to Hernandez so luckily the Orioles had a bigger lead. He then retired the next 3 batters to end the game. He’s been a disappointment and waste of money.

Obviously this series has been a great sign. The offense is ridiculous right now, as hot as any other team in the league and to win a series is a boost to the team’s morale. I think they feel good to be home especially because the crowds they’ve gotten for this series have been sold out or close to it. I believe the next series will bring similar crowd as the St. Louis Cardinals are coming to town and they’ve never been here either (though many people probably would have come to see Pujols and he’s out now). Let’s hope the momentum continues and we can get back to .500 soon!