The Baltimore Orioles swept the Cleveland Indians and now have won an amazing 18 of 26 games in the month of June. As a result, they are in first place in the American League East division for the first time since April 19th.
With a record of (41-34) they are tied with the Tampa Bay Rays (42-35) and are clicking on all cylinders. They are one of the hottest teams in baseball and have a record of 18-5 since June 4th.
The Birds took the first game of the three-game series at Oriole Park at Camden Yards by a score of 4-3. They had to rally to win the game as usually reliable reliever Darren O’Day gave up a game-tying homer in the eighth inning to knot the score at 3-3.
The Orioles answered by coming right back in their bottom half of the inning. Hot-hitting Jimmy Paredes (team-high .321 average) socked a single and was brought home with the winning run when slugger Chris Davis followed with and RBI double to make the score 4-3.
Closer Zach Britton entered the game and gave up one hit and struck out one on his way to earning his 22nd save of the year. Starter Wei-Yin Chen (3-4, 2.90 ERA) gave up seven hits, had five strikeouts and surrendered two runs and two walks in six innings of work.
The second game of the series was rained out and was made up as part of a Sunday day-night doubleheader. The day game a 4-0 Orioles victory, was dominated by Oriole’s starter Ubaldo Jimenez who fanned seven, allowed four hits, no runs or walks in eight innings of work.
He is now 5-1 at Camden Yards this season and has won four straight games. He has a record of (7-3) with a 3.09 ERA.
The offense was provided by Paredes who hit a two-run homer to give his team an early 2-0 lead in the third inning. Baltimore scored two more runs in the sixth inning when third baseman Manny Machado hit his career-high 15th homer of the year. Paredes doubled and Davis followed with his own two-bagger to bring him in.
The victory turned out to be the 5,000 win in Orioles franchise history.
Following the lead of Jimenez, the night game starter, Chris Tillman was also in complete control of the game, an 8-0 Orioles win.
He gave up four hits and struck out six in seven innings of shutout work. He improved his record to (6-7) and now has a 5.67 ERA.
The Baltimore offense jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the second inning and then put the game away with a sixth-run, three-homer fourth inning. Davis, who has an eight-game hitting streak, hit a “flag-court” homer, Travis Snider homered, plastering a hanging curveball to make the score 4-0.
Machado later doubled down the third base line to drive in two runs. He now has a .305 average and a 10-game hitting streak. He also has a sizzling 20 RBIs in 20 games. Chris Parmelee clocked a two-run homer to finish off the fourth inning fireworks.
The Birds took advantage of Cleveland starter Toru Murata who was making his Major League debut. He started fine but was knocked out in the fourth inning after he allowed five runs.
Seven of nine Oriole starters had hits and they scored eight runs on an efficient eight hits.
Reliever T. J. McFarland gave up four hits in two innings but kept the Indians off the board. As a result, it was the first time Oriole pitchers have shutout a team in a doubleheader since 1974. The team? The Cleveland Indians.
