Baltimore Orioles slammed to victory by Jonathan Schoop

Jonathan Schoop hit two home runs, including a Grand Slam, as the Baltimore Orioles defeated Detroit, 9-3.

Jonathan Schoop and the Baltimore Orioles have been finding ways to win. That’s certainly a far cry fro the Orioles of old, who from 1998-2011 would basically find ways to lose. And new ways at that. But I digress…

…last night’s win was the Orioles’ seventh straight. It’s now the second time that the Birds have won seven straight games this year, the first being to open the season. Mike Wright had a few struggles, but due to Oriole bats he hung on to collect the win. Wright’s line: 7.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 6 K. That looks like a pretty respectable stat line, and it is. Wright had a few issues with command early, and in effect made one bad pitch.

That bad pitch was a first pitch hanging fastball in the sixth to Detroit’s Cabrera that ended up traveling a long way. The two-run homer gave Detroit a 2-0 lead, and it hit off of the roof of the visitors’ bullpen in left field. Speaking for myself, I’ve never seen a ball reach that point at Camden Yards. The teams had played to a scoreless draw to that point, but luckily for the O’s Wright collected himself and got out of the inning.

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But the O’s cut into that 2-0 lead, and eventually took the lead themselves alost right away. Following a Trumbo RBI-double in the last of the sixth, Matt Wieters gave the O’s a 3-2 lead with a two-run homer. One inning later Schoop blasted a solo shot over the wall, and the O’s led 4-2. Detroit would come back to within on a Martinez RBI-double in the eighth, but this night belonged to the Orioles.

I wouldn’t call the last of the eighth late-game heroics or anything like that, because the O’s already had the lead. Furthermore they were in the driver’s seat all the way. However Adam Jones provided an insurance run with a solo homer, padding the lead back to two runs. Then the game blew wide open.

Two singles and a walk (plus a strikeout) later, the O’s had the bases loaded.

And Jonathan Schoop, who of course had already homered, was striding to the plate. He couldn’t, I mean – he wouldn’t…there’s no way that – HE DID! Yes folks, Schoop’s second homer of the game was a grand slam, which sent the Birds onto a 9-3 victory over Detroit.

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On a side note, I do feel somewhat badly for Detroit starters. Sanchez threw a heck of a game last night, and while he was already trailing when he left, he had what might be one of the worst bullpens in baseball behind him. He was charged with four runs; that means the ‘pen gave up five. And that’s a familiar pattern for the Detroit Tigers to this point this season.

Oriole pitching has been better than advertised to this point, which means that Oriole bats are a bit more relaxed during games. Matt Wieters admitted as much after the game (quote courtesy of Ben Raby and Todd Karpovich, mlb.com):

"The big thing is that we can sit back down and relax because our pitchers have done such a good job of keeping us there. We have more confidence that when we go out there, we’re going to get another zero, and then with our bats, if we can just keep [the opposition] without scoring, then eventually we’re going to find some barrels."

Incidentally, I saw numerous tweets during the game to the effect that it almost appeared that Detroit was trying to get their manager (Ausmus) fired. I don’t know the dynamic in that clubhouse right now, and I don’t know what his players think of him or how he’s viewed. However there are some very good and classy professionals in that clubhouse, and you would hope they wouldn’t be intentionally just going through the motions trying to get the manager canned.

Next: Baltimore Orioles: Chris Tillman outduels Verlander

The O’s will go for a rare four-game series sweep this afternoon at Camden Yards. Kevin Gausman will be on the hill for the Birds, and he’ll be opposed by Detroit’s Michael Fulmer. Game time is set for just after 1:35 PM.