Baltimore Orioles thoughts: 5 takeaways from 5 games in Boston

The Baltimore Orioles have wrapped up a rare and interesting 5 game series in Boston, taking 3 out of the 5 for a series win. There are some takeaways to be had from this series, so here’s one takeaway from each game.

Friday, May 27th: The comeback kids

The first game of the series saw the Orioles trailing 6-0 and 8-2 at separate points of the game, only to come back and stun the Red Sox, picking up the 12-8 win. The takeaway here is that large comebacks are in fact possible, and these Orioles did it with quite a bang, scoring 10 runs in the final 3 innings of play.

Saturday, May 28th(game one): Done in by the bench

In the first half of a day-night doubleheader with the Red Sox, the Orioles had jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first inning off Nathan Eovaldi. Unfortunately, it all unraveled after that. After Robinson Chirinos tied the game with a solo home run, the Red Sox turned to pinch hitter Bobby Dalbec against O’s lefty Keegan Akin.

With the lefty on righty matchup, the advantage went to Dalbec, blasting the go ahead and  eventual game winning solo home run into the Boston bullpen. The offense couldn’t do anything more against Eovaldi, who threw a complete game in the win for the Red Sox.

Saturday, May 28th(game two): All about that pitching

Looking to bounce back from a tough game one loss in the doubleheader, the Orioles did just that. Josh Winckowski was the starter for the Red Sox, making his MLB debut. He got introduced to the Orioles offense quickly, with a 4 run 3rd inning thanks to an RBI single by Ramón Urías and a 3 run home run by Rougned Odor.

But it was the Orioles pitching that really stole the show, preserving the lead given to them to secure the win. Denyi Reyes was the starter, allowing one run in 3 2/3 innings. Joey Krehbiel, Félix Bautista, Cionel Pérez, and Jorge López all came out of the bullpen in relief, keeping the lead and win intact.

Sunday, May 29th: Implosion after implosion

Looking to keep the good times from a doubleheader split on Sunday, everything went wrong for the Orioles, dropping the game 12-2  in a total shellacking by the Red Sox.

Bruce Zimmermann was the starter for the Orioles, and boy he did not have it. He was charged with 6 runs on 8 hits and one walk over 4 innings, with all 5 runs coming via the long ball. Dalbec, Franchy Cordero, Rafael Devers, Christian Arroyo, and Kiké Hernández all hitting home runs.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, Cody Sedlock made his debut, pitching quite well for the Orioles. That is, until he was asked to pitch the 8th inning. That was when everything imploded for the rookie, giving up 5 runs and giving way to Marcos Diplán out of the bullpen.

Monday, May 30th: Hey, we got an offense!

After 12 runs on Friday night, the Orioles had gone dormant on offense since then, until Monday’s series finale. Ryan McKenna and Chris Owings were the only hitters that didn’t have anything to contribute offensively, routing the Red Sox in a 10-0 shutout win to clinch the series.

Two runs came in the first inning thanks to an RBI triple from Trey Mancini, and a long towering home run from Ryan Mountcastle. They got two more runs in the 3rd inning thanks to a two run home run from Urías. The 5th inning saw two more runs, thanks to a sac fly from Anthony Santander and a groundout from Urías.

In the 7th inning, a groundout from Mountcastle made it 7-0, before Santander mashed a 3 run home run in the 9th inning to make it a 10-0 game. On the pitching side, Tyler Wells delivered 6 innings of shutout ball, allowing just 3 baserunners.

Krehbiel, Dillon Tate, and Logan Gillaspie each had an inning at the end of the game. Up next, the Orioles start a 3 game series with the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday, with the projected starters being Bryan Baker on Tuesday, Kyle Bradish on Wednesday, and Jordan Lyles on Thursday.