Baltimore Orioles: Long ball not really needed in win vs. DC

The Baltimore Orioles only needed one home run (which came after the game was out of control) as they defeated Washington, 8-1.

Who would have thought that the Baltimore Orioles would win a game 8-1, and only need one home run?! In reality, they probably didn’t even need that because it came in garbage time when the game was already out of reach for Washington. The Orioles in essence manufactured seven runs last night, which is a good sign.

Kevin Gausman once again provided the O’s with a shot to win the game by how he performed as a starter. Gausman’s line: 6.0 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K. The Orioles also won three different replay challenges, two of which came while they were in the field. In fact, those two were both challenges of out calls at second base on attempted steals by Turner. Winning that many challenges is huge for any team, and it figured big in this game.

The O’s took an early 1-0 lead on Mark Trumbo‘s RBI-single in the last of the first. One inning later it was Matt Wieters‘ turn, and the O’s had a 2-0 lead on his RBI-double. Wieters would later score on Adam Jones‘ RBI-single, and the Orioles were off to the races.

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And that was only the first two innings! Jonathan Schoop‘s RBI-double in the third ran the score to 4-0, and later in the inning Hardy would reach base on an error that would score two additional runs for the Orioles. I’m not exactly sure when a game gets “out of control,” but somewhere between 4-0 and 6-0 the competitive part of the game seemed to end.

Washington would get a run back on Espinosa’s RBI-single in the seventh, but in the bottom of the inning Wieters would add another RBI-single of his own. One inning later in the last of the eighth, the lone Orioles’ home run sailed over the fence, off the bat of Chris Davis. So by the final score of 8-1, the O’s swept Washington in the series finale of the set in Baltimore. (The league looks at this as two separate series’, one in Baltimore and one in Washington. The only constant I believe is the umpiring crew which remains the same.)

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The win was almost dampened after the game when Showalter announced that Thursday’s starter, Chris Tillman, was being sent to the DL with a shoulder swelling. Tillman threw a bullpen session yesterday afternoon and didn’t feel good at all, so he was examined by a physician. Ubaldo Jimenez will start in his place; the DL stint is backdated to Sunday, and Tillman will be eligible to come off the DL on September 5th.

The fact that the O’s won this game without too much assistance from home runs bodes well. Granted two of those runs came on an error, but that’s what can happen when you have runners on base. It’s so easy to say that those two runs weren’t earned, but in a sense they wouldn’t have crossed the plate had that error occurred with nobody on base. If this offense can contiunue to have games like this where they don’t rely on the long ball, they’ll be in really good shape moving forward.

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The O’s will now head to DC for another two-game set with these same Washington Nationals. Wade Miley will get the start for the Orioles, and he’ll be opposed by Washington’s Tanner Roark. Game time is set for just after 7 PM.

The Baltimore Orioles only needed one home run (which came after the game was out of control) as they defeated Washington, 8-1.

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