The Baltimore Orioles made an early statement by taking three of four from their American League East rival the New York Yankees much to the delight of the Baltimore fans in attendance at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.
After the Orioles won the first two games, 2-0 and 4-2, the Yankees (20-13) showed up and won the third game 2-0. Baltimore (20-11) then came right back and won the fourth game of the series 7-2.
The Orioles ended the series in first place in the hotly contested AL East Division.
The series finale was highlighted by the return of last year’s Orioles ace Kyle Bradish who was coming off the Injured List. He was worth the wait and looked as good as ever. His command was nasty.
He struck out five and allowed four hits, two walks and one run in 4.2 innings of work. He threw 84 pitches, 51 for strikes. His arrival really bolsters the Orioles starting rotation.
The bullpen allowed one run and struck out six with Keegan Akin (1-0) getting the win.
The Baltimore bats were led by Ryan Mountcastle (.290 BA) who went 2-4 with his fifth homerun and two RBI. Jorge Mateo (two RBI) and Ryan McKenna each hit their first homeruns of the year.
Jordan Westburg (.308 BA) went 2-4 with two RBI and his second triple of the season.
New York took a 1-0 lead in the third inning, but Mountcastle matched that with his 405ft long ball to centerfield making the score 1-1.
The Birds took the lead 3-1 in the fourth inning with Mateo (425ft to center) and McKenna ‘s 403ft dinger also to center.
Mountcastle ‘s line drive single to right field in the fifth inning drove in Adley Rutschman making the score 4-1. Westburg tripled on a sharp line drive (Exit Velocity 105.3 mph) to center driving in two.
Baltimore’s win probability jumped to 97.8%.
Mateo added a sacrifice fly to left making the score 7-1 at the end of the fifth inning.
New York added a homer in the sixth inning to complete the scoring.
The first game of the series, a 2-0 Baltimore win, was highlighted by Gunnar Henderson’s (.289 BA) first inning (410ft right field flag court) leadoff 10th homerun of the year.
The homerun was significant as Henderson became the youngest player (22 years, 305 days) in AL/NL history with 10 home runs before May. He is also now the third player in O’s history (since 1954) to clobber 10+ homers before May 1. (Brady Anderson 11, ’96 and Frank Robinson 10, ’69) He is tied with Mike Trout for the MLB lead in homers. By the way the 6’3″ shortstop was also the April AL Player of the Month!
Starter Grayson Rodriguez surrendered five hits while striking out three and walking three in 5.2 innings of work. Rodriguez threw 101 pitches, 54 for strikes. He has 37 strikeouts in 34 innings pitched. The 6’5″ righthander is (4-1) with a 3.71 ERA.
The second game of the series, a 4-2 Orioles win, starter Dean Kremer was the story. He struck out four and allowed four hits and four walks while surrendering two runs in seven innings of work. His stuff was filthy. He threw 93 pitches, 57 for strikes. He is now (2-2) with a 4.19 ERA.
With the score tied 1-1 Baltimore scored three runs in the fourth inning to get control of the game taking a 4-1 lead. Rutschman (.322 BA) went 2-4 with one RBI. Henderson was 1-3 including his 24th RBI of the season.
Yankee Juan Soto clobbered his eighth homer in the sixth inning, but they would get no more as the Orioles bullpen closed out the game.
In the third game of the series, a 2-0 Yankee victory, Orioles starter Corbin Burnes struck out six while allowing four hits, two runs and one walk in six innings of work. A fifth inning two-run homer spoiled his night. He is (3-1) with a 2.61 ERA.
