The Baltimore Orioles took two of three from the NL-East leading Atlanta Braves at Sun Trust Park.
The Orioles won the first two games 10-7 and 7-5 but the Braves avoided the sweep by taking the series finale 7-3.
The highlight of the series and the Oriole’s season was the crazy Friday night 10-7 Birds win.
Down 3-1 in the ninth, they rallied for six runs to take a 7-3 lead. Not to be outdone, the Braves responded with four runs of their own to send the game into extra innings.
The score stayed that way until the 15th inning when Baltimore’s Manny Machado hit a two-run homer to give the Orioles a 9-7 lead. They later added a run on a single by Jonathan Schoop to take a 10-7 lead and eventual feel good win.
A highlight of the victory was a home run from struggling first baseman Chris Davis who sat out eight games to try and find his batting stroke.
A downer was closer Zach Britton, who is coming back from an injury and was at one time the best closer in the game, surrendering four runs in the bottom of the ninth and letting Atlanta back into the game.
Baltimore starter Alex Cobb struck out six, allowed four hits, walked two and allowed one run in seven innings of work.
Baltimore won the middle game of the series 7-5 on the strength of a first inning Grand Slam off the bat of slugger Mark Trumbo.
Davis added a three-run double in the fifth to help Baltimore take a 7-1 lead.
Baltimore starter Dylan Bundy struck out eight, allowed seven hits while walking two and surrendering two runs in 6.1 innings of work. He improved to (6-7) and now has a (3.75) ERA.
The bullpen allowed three runs and closer Britton was more like his old self and earned his first save of the year.
Atlanta avoided a sweep, winning the series finale 7-3. The Baltimore highlights included a two-run pinch hit homer by Trumbo and Trey Mancini’s 10th home run of the year.
