The Baltimore Orioles just completed their best road trip of the season and topped it off by taking two of three at Fenway Park from the Boston Red Sox who just happen to be one of the teams they are battling for first place in the hotly contested A.L. East division.
In crunch time the O’s, who have struggled on the road all season, are playing their best. They took two of three from the Rays, Tigers and Boston on the road. The last time they did that was 1998.
And they beat the teams they needed to beat as they are battling Boston and Toronto for first in the division and the Tigers for a Wild Card berth.
With 17 games to go they have a record of (80-65) and trail Boston (81-64) by one game and the Blue Jays (79-66) are two games back in third place. They would play the Blue Jays in the Wild Card game if the season ended today.
After splitting the first two games with the Red Sox, Oriole’s starter Kevin Gausman completely dominated the third game of the series, a 1-0 Baltimore victory.
Gausman was pitching against Cy Young candidate Rick Porcello (20-4) who had not lost a game all season at Fenway Park.
He was up to the challenge as he struck out six walked one and allowed four hits in eight innings of work. He won his fifth straight start and improved to (8-10) and lowered his ERA to 3.43.
Closer Zach Britton came in to record his 43rd straight save of the season and slugger Mark Trumbo provided the offense hitting his ML leading 42nd homer of the season in the second inning.
The first game of the series, a 12-2 Boston win, the Red Sox pounded Oriole’s starter Wad Miley. He gave up five first inning runs and did not make it out of the second inning. 10 of the 12 batters he faced got on base. He now has a record of (8-13) with a 5.80 ERA.
The only bright spot for the Birds was solo homers by Chris Davis (37) and Manny Machado (35).
This is the first time in Oriole’s history that they have three players, Trumbo has 42, with at least 30 homers.
In the middle game of the series the O’s used the long ball as they have all season to secure a 6-3 victory.
Shortstop J. J. Hardy hit his ninth homer of the season, a three-run shot in the second and Nolan Reimold followed that up with a two-run home run, his sixth of the season to give Baltimore a 5-0 lead after two innings.
Second baseman Jonathan Schoop provided an insurance run, a solo homer in the ninth inning, his 24th home run of the season.
Meanwhile, starter Dylan Bundy surrendered six hits, struck out four walked four and allowed three runs in 5.1 innings of work, He improved to (9-5) and now has a 3.88 ERA. The bullpen shut out the Red Sox and Britton got his 42nd save of the season.
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