The Baltimore Orioles swept the New York Yankees in the season’s final series in front of a disappointed but gracious crowd at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.
The Birds ended the season with a five game winning streak to finish at .500 with an (81-81) record. This marks the fourth straight season with a non-losing record.
Still, expectations were not met for last year’s American League East champion, who now have to head home and not into the 2015 playoff race.
After winning the final two games of the four game series with the 2015 AL East Champion Toronto Blue Jays, the third place Birds took on the second place Yankees.
The first game of the series was posponed due to rain. The Orioles won the first game of the rescheduled Saturday doubleheader 9-2. The offense was paced by Gerardo Parra who went 4-5 with three RBIs. Manny Machado belted his 34th homer of the season and was 2-5 with three RBIs.
Meanwhile, O’s starter, Wei-Yin Chen, a free agent at the end of the season, allowed four hits, struck out three, walked three and allowed two runs in six innings of work.
The bullpen was flawless while striking out four in three innings to complete the victory. Chen improved to (11-8) with a season-ending and Major League career-best 3.34 ERA.
In the second game of the doubleheader, a 4-3 Birds victory, they used Machados’s 35th homer and another solo shot from Nolan Reimold to secure the twin-billing sweep. And eighth inning wild pitch brought home the winning run and closer Zach Britton recorded his 36th save of the season.
Besides setting a career mark with 35 homers, Machado led the team with a .286 batting average. He also finished first on the team with 20 stolen bases and second to Davis on the team with 86 RBIs.
Orioles’s starter Ubaldo Jimenez struck out seven,allowed five hits,walked three and surrendered three hits in six innings of work. Reliever T. J. McFarland got the victory (2-2) while throwing two scoreless innings.
The final game of the season, a 9-4 Birds victory, included two, two-run homers from slugger Chris Davis, also a free agent at the end of the season. He finished the year leading all of baseball with 47 home runs and was second in the AL with 117 RBIs.
He went 3-4 with a double, his 31st of the season to lead the team to an uplifting victory and a .500 season.
Parra, also a free agent, went 2-4 with two RBIs and catcher Matt Wieters, also a free agent, went 2-5 with two RBIs including his 14th double of the season.
Orioles’s Opening and Closing Day starter Chris Tillman allowed seven hits, struck out five, walked four and surrendered two runs in five and 1/3 innings of work. The bullpen was awesome in this series and allowed two runs in three and 2/3 innings of relief work.
Tillman, like the team, finished with a .500 record at (11-11) while getting his ERA under five at 4.99.
The Birds now look to move on and improve their roster during the off season. They have several free agents including, Wieters, setup man Darren O’Day, starter Chen and Parra but none more important than “Crush” Davis.
