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Baltimore Orioles, Matt Wieters sweep beltway war

By Domenic A. Vadala

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Late inning heroics like what we saw yesterday out of Matt Wieters have been the story for the Baltimore Orioles this week during the Battle of the Beltways. Washington had rallied to take the lead, but suddenly – BOOM! The O’s were having none of that, in terms of Washington sneaking up on then. With the win, the O’s took four-of-six games from Washington this year, sweeping the DC part of the series.

While he ended up with a no-decision, Tyler Wilson provided the O’s with a quality start yesterday afternoon. Wilson’s line: 6 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 4 K. Manny Machado’s RBI-single right off the bat gave Wilson the lead before he even took the field. The O’s opened that up to a 3-0 lead in the fourth when Jonathan Schoop added a two-run homer, although Washington wasn’t about the go quietly.

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    • Washington got on the board an inning later on Anthony Rendon’s sac fly-RBI. Yunel Escobar’s RBI-single later in the inning cut the Orioles’ lead to 3-2, however Wilson was able to get out of the inning. Wilson was able to make it out of the inning, and as I said above he left the game after six.

    Washington would tie the game in the seventh however with a solo homer from Wilson Ramos. They would take the lead on Escobar’s RBI-double later in the inning, however Rendon was out at home plate trying to score. That ended up being a huge play – in a game that ended up being decided by one run, that is.

    Courtesy of Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports

    At that point if you’re the Orioles, you might be thinking that even though you’re still in a race for the wild card, two-of-three isn’t bad. But taking all three games was obviously something that was necessary if the O’s were truly going to try to make a run. So Steve Pearce led off the eighth with this in his mind – and promptly got on base with a single.

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    As Matt Wieters strode to home plate, perhaps he unknowingly had the hearts and dreams of Baltimore on his back. And he delivered – in the form of a two-run homer that essentially won the game for the O’s. The bullpen closed the door on Washington (in both the eighth and ninth), and the Orioles swept the series in DC.

    So yes if you’re keeping track at home, the O’s took four of the six games between the two teams this year. But perhaps more importantly, they’re now only 3.5 games back of the wild card with ten games to play. History will ultimately judge whether they’re coming on and doing too little too late. However needlessto say they’re heating up at just the right time.

    The O’s now head to Boston for their final series of the year against the BoSox. It’ll also be their final road series of the 2015 regular season. Kevin Gausman gets the start for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by Boston’s Rich Hill. Game time is set for just after 7 PM.

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