The Baltimore Orioles came back and beat the Red Sox: How it went down

There are a slew of words that you could use to describe Friday night’s Baltimore Orioles game against the Red Sox. Crazy? Outlandish? unpredictable? comeback?

However you choose to describe the game, the Baltimore Orioles trailed by 6 runs twice on Friday night, and somehow managed to beat the Red Sox. Let’s look at how it all went down.

The game started exactly the way it should not have for the  Orioles. With rookie Kyle Bradish on the mound, Boston staked themselves to a 4-0 lead after one inning. Rafael Devers stung a ball into the gap in left-center field, with an error by Anthony Santander allowing for Kiké Hernández to score. Xander Bogaerts then crushed a 3  run home run to put Boston ahead 4-0.

In the second inning, Alex Verdugo doubled in two runs, giving the Red Sox a 6 run cushion to work with. When the 4th inning hit, Santander got the Orioles on the board with a two run home run, making it a 6-2 game. Boston then scored in both the 4th and 5th innings to make it an 8-2 game.

When the 7th inning came around, with Red Sox starter Garrett Whitlock out of the mound, the comeback began. Jake Diekman hung a slider over the middle of the plate, which Jorge Mateo took advantage of and hammered out of the yard, cutting the deficit to 8-5, still down by three.

In the 8th inning, Austin Hays made the gap closer, cutting it to an 8-7 deficit with a two run homer of his own. With two outs in the 8th, Ramón Urías hit a chopper to Rafael Devers, who then botched the throw, with allowed Rougned Odor to score and tie the game up 8-8.

When the 9th inning came around, Santander delivered in the clutch again, singling to right field to score Cedric Mullins and put the Orioles ahead at last, making it 9-8. With Hirokazu Sawamura in the game for Boston on the mound, he threw a wild pitch to score Santander, making it a 10-8 lead. Ryan Mountcastle then drove in another run with a sac fly, followed by Odor hitting an RBI single, making it 12-8 and completing the comeback.

On the pitching side of the equation, Bradish had the start and got whacked around for 6 runs in 1 2/3 innings. Beau Sulser delivered 3 critical innings in relief, allowing two runs. After that, Marcos Diplán provided two strong shutout innings. Then, a bullpen combination of Logan Gillaspie, Dillon Tate, Cionel Pérez, and Jorge López held the Red Sox scoreless for the remainder of the game, with Pérez getting the win in relief.

It’s time to hand out the game MVP for this one. Guys like Hays, Diplán, Sulser, and Mateo are all pretty deserving, but I’m gonna hand it out to Santander. His two run home run in the 4th inning got the Orioles on the board, and his third RBI proved the biggest, driving in the go ahead and eventual game winning run in the 9th inning, so he gets game MVP for this one.

After Saturday’s double header, which has Jordan Lyles and Denyi Reyes as expected starters, the O’s and Red Sox have tilts on Sunday and Monday to wrap up the series. Bruce Zimmermann is lined up to go on Sunday, with Tyler Wells likely to start Monday’s series finale.