Baltimore Orioles’ bats anything but quiet in 16-4 win over Phillies

Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Recently, I have been hearing many fans worrying about the Baltimore Orioles’ run production in the spring training games so far. Personally, I was shocked to see so many people worried. You must remember these are spring training games and Baltimore’s lineups are filled with minor league players and backups who will not see much playing time for the Orioles once the season starts.

Most importantly, the Orioles are playing two games each day a lot of the time. Because of this, the starting players like Adam Jones are not going to be very selective with the pitches they swing at and are going up to the plate swinging at the first pitch sometimes to just get the at-bat over and done with.

And also remember… These are exhibition games meaning WINS AND LOSSES DON’T MATTER.

Regardless, the Orioles quieted some of this nitpicking comments when they blew the Philadelphia Phillies out of the water with a decisive 16-4 win.

Miguel Gonzalez was on the mound for the Orioles and pitched four complete innings, giving up just two earned runs and striking out four Philadelphia batters. 

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Gonzalez was backed up with with solid bullpen performances from Chaz Roe and Brad Brach. Roe pitched a scoreless 1 2/3 innings with three strikeouts. Brach pitched the ninth inning and struck out a batter of his own.

The Baltimore pitchers had plenty of run support in this game. Five different Orioles hit a home run in this game.

Chris Davis hit a three-run home run in the top of the first inning to open up the scoring for the Birds. In the fifth inning, Steve Pearce hit his third home run in the past three days to put the Orioles up 13-2. And, Orioles prospect Dariel Alvarez hit a homer to left field to push Baltimore’s lead up to 14-3.

Davis had a three-hit day with an RBI double in the top of the second inning. Everth Cabrera, who made a rare appearance in center field, went 2-3 from the plate today with a third inning double to right field.

Third baseman Jimmy Paredes continued to impress and went 2-3 from the plate with five RBIs with a three-run home run of his own in the top of the third inning.

Needless to say, a blowout win like this helped all Orioles fans breathe a deep sigh of relief. Hopefully, this was a sign of things to come for the Orioles this season: good pitching and three-run homers.

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