Well, the Orioles did what they needed to do and won their series against the worst team in the American League. But it sure as heck wasn’t easy.
The O’s took the rubber game in Kansas City, 8-6, behind a six-run explosion in the top of the sixth, then held on for dear life to fend off the Royals’ late comeback attempt. The offense got contributions from up and down the lineup, including much-maligned underperformers like Colton Cowser (two hits) and Coby Mayo (a massive three-run homer), and Anthony
Nunez filled in as closer for the day and notched his first major league save. The victory completes a 3-4 road trip for the Orioles, who bring a 12-13 record into their first off day in two weeks.
The Orioles offense faced a tough assignment in Michael Wacha, the veteran Royals right-hander who entered the game with a microscopic 1.00 ERA in his first four starts. But Wacha was a bit rough out of the gate. After a leadoff strikeout, the next three Orioles hitters — Taylor Ward, Dylan Beavers, and Pete Alonso — each mashed deep fly balls. Ward’s slammed off the wall for a double. Beavers’ was knocked down by the wind and caught on the warning track. But nobody was catching Alonso’s. The Polar Bear lofted a 410-foot, opposite-field blast over the wall in right, giving the Orioles a 2-0 lead. That’s the kind of easy power we’d like to see more of from the Birds’ shiny new slugger.
Despite the early O’s advantage, the vibes quickly turned sour. While Wacha settled into a groove and threw four straight scoreless innings, Orioles starter Chris Bassitt frittered away the lead. Vinnie Pasquantino provided the first Royals run with a solo homer in the first, snapping an 0-for-16 drought and giving the Royals just their second run in the first inning all season. Bassitt got through the second and third unscathed before the Royals flipped the lead in the fourth.
Pasquantino started the rally with a double, and two batters later — just as the MASN announcers were mentioning that the Royals are the worst hitting team in MLB with runners in scoring position — Carter Jensen delivered one such hit, a single up the middle to plate Pasquantino with the tying run. Later in the inning — just as the MASN announcers were mentioning that Lane Thomas was 0-for-8 in his career against Bassitt — the aforementioned Lane Thomas socked an RBI single to give the Royals a 3-2 lead. Just stop mentioning things, MASN announcers! Only silence from now on.
Staring down a deficit in the top of the sixth against a cruising Wacha, things looked bleak for the Orioles. And then: something amazing happened. The O’s scored six runs. Seriously! Not only that, but it was one of the most un-Orioles type of offensive rallies you’ll ever see. They hit the ball to all fields. They shortened their swings with two strikes, putting the ball in play however they could. It was a nearly unrecognizable Orioles attack, and it was delightful.
It all started innocently enough, when Alonso drew a four-pitch walk and Samuel Basallo doinked a changeup into right for a single. That brought up the Orioles’ dynamic duo of Leody Taveras and Jeremiah Jackson — two of the best hitters on the team, as we all predicted in spring training — and both of them delivered again. On a 2-2 curve from Wacha, Taveras flicked the ball into right field, bringing home Alonso to knot the score at three. Basallo aggressively ran to third base on the play, and Taveras alertly advanced to second on the throw to third.
Up next was Jackson, who dunked a single into left-center field, driving in two more runs and putting the Birds back on top, 5-3. There we go! Where would the Orioles be without Jeremiah this season? Not bad for a guy who might not have even made the team if Luis Vázquez weren’t hurt. The Orioles, improbably, had knocked Wacha out of the game. They hung six earned runs on a pitcher who’d allowed only three runs in his first four starts combined. Not too shabby!
But the Orioles had saved the best for last. Against reliever Eli Morgan, Colton Cowser singled on an 0-2 changeup — his second hit of the game — to bring up Coby Mayo. It’s no secret that Coby has struggled mightily this season, but when he’s on, he’s capable of hitting massive, jaw-dropping, moon-shot dingers. Eli Morgan got a first-hand look at that when Mayo jumped on his hanging slider and crushed it OVER THE FOUNTAINS AT KAUFFMAN STADIUM, a prodigious blast measured at 452 feet. Wowza. An Orioles fan in the second deck, who probably never thought in her wildest dreams that she was in home run territory, ended up with the ball. It was the Orioles’ longest home run since July 5 of last year, when Jordan Westburg crushed a 461-foot blast in Atlanta.
The Earl Weaver special gave the Orioles an 8-3 lead, and against a lousy offense like the Royals, you’d think that would be plenty. You’d think. But just as the MASN announcers mentioned how important it was for Bassitt to pitch a shutdown inning, you’ll never guess what happened. He almost immediately gave back a chunk of it. Jensen led off the bottom of the sixth with a homer, followed by a Michael Massey double. Bassitt got just one out in the sixth before Craig Albernaz went to the bullpen.
The good news, I suppose, is that Bassitt’s 5.1-inning performance was his longest of the season. But he still wasn’t good. Against a bad offense, he gave up eight hits and five runs, with his inherited runner scoring on Kyle Isbel’s two-run homer off Yennier Cano. With Cade Povich and Brandon Young pitching well at Triple-A, I’m wondering how long the O’s will persist with Bassitt in the rotation.
The Royals’ sixth-inning rally made it an 8-6 game, and the Orioles squandered numerous opportunities to add insurance runs. Beavers doubled to lead off the seventh but never advanced. In the ninth, Ward was thrown out at the plate on another Beavers double. Eight runs would have to do.
Fortunately, it did. Tyler Wells had his best high-leverage outing of the year, working 1.2 scoreless innings, and Anthony Nunez entered the ninth for his first career save opportunity (closer Ryan Helsley went on the bereavement list earlier in the day). Nunez retired the first two batters before the third baseman Mayo, on what should’ve been the final out, spiked a routine throw to first to bring Bobby Witt Jr. to the plate as the tying run. Oh boy. Here we go.
No worries. Nunez racked up a clutch strikeout of Witt, nailing down the win and earning his first save. Congrats to the rookie, who has been a great addition to the O’s bullpen (again, not bad for a guy who almost didn’t make the Opening Day roster).
That’s an Orioles victory. Who is your Most Birdland Player, Camden Chatters? Coby Mayo for his breathtaking three-run homer? Alonso for his dinger? Taveras or Jackson for their clutch hits? Wells or Nunez for their relief work? There are no wrong answers. Except Chris Bassitt.
