The Orioles entered today’s series finale against the Dodgers fresh off a pair of late-inning affairs. Wisely, the Birds decided not to leave anything to chance this afternoon. Baltimore scored in each of the first four innings and kept its foot on the gas for the remainder of the contest.
The Dodgers put together rallies in the ninth inning on Friday and Saturday. Today, they sent a position player to the mound for the final frame. The Orioles topped Los Angeles 12-1 to secure a series victory at Dodger stadium.
Baltimore tallied 15 hits and scored double digit runs for the first time since June 5. Colton Cowser and Blaze Alexander both finished 3-for-5 with a homer, and the Birds added long balls from Taylor Ward and Pete Alonso. The laugher allowed the Orioles to empty the bench with Sam Huff and Michael Siani getting some run, while Grant Wolfram and Keegan Akin spared an overworked bullpen.
The number 12 jumps off the page, but Brandon Young did his part to earn the victory. Both Young and Los Angeles’ starter Emmet Sheehan saw their pitch count climb early in the contest, but only Young was able to keep the traffic from reaching home plate
Baltimore got things started with a single, a double, and a walk by its first three hitters. Samuel Basallo drove in the first run of the game with an single up the middle, and Cowser drove in another with a bloop single to left. The Birds nearly struck for more, but Coby Mayo failed to check is swing with the bases loaded and the count full. Alonso failed to get a good read on Cowser’s single, and the first baseman remained at third when Alexander popped out to end the inning.
Briefly, it felt like the missed opportunity could come back to hurt the Orioles. Young walked Shohei Ohtani in his first at bat. The MVP advanced to second on a single by Freddie Freeman and came around to score on a two-out single by Max Muncy. Young failed to deliver a true shutdown inning in the first, but he preserved the lead by retiring Kyle Tucker to leave a man in scoring position.
Taylor Ward doubled the lead with a solo shot in the second. Young walked Alex Freeland and gave up a single to Ohtani in the bottom half, but he struck out Andy Pages to post his first zero of the day.
Young went on to post three more donuts. He limited Los Angeles to a single in the third and a double in the fifth. He needed 95 pitches to do it, but he completed five frames to put himself in position for his sixth win of the season.
The Birds tacked on two more in the fourth. Ward, Alonso and Mayo all walked to give Cowser an opportunity with two outs and the bases juiced. The Milk Man muscled a base hit up the middle against lefty reliever Jack Dreyer, and the Orioles led 6-1.
Fans couldn’t quite relax with a five-run lead after six, but the Orioles allowed all the dads out there to recline and start to doze after a four-run seventh. Alexander and Jeremiah Jackson both doubled to plate the seventh run. The Dodgers walked Henderson to setup a force against Alonso, and the veteran stepped to the plate with bad intentions. Alonso launched a towering fly to right center to give Baltimore its eighth, ninth, and tenth runs of the day.
Leody Taveras tripled in the eighth inning, and Alexander capped an impressive day with a two-run blast off of former Oriole Chayce McDermott.
Wolfram and Akin combined for four hitless innings to bring the game to a close.
It’s crazy to think that the Orioles were one bad inning away from sweeping the World Series favorites in their building. The team should take some confidence from today’s result, and the O’s will look to inch closer to the .500 mark tomorrow against the last place Angels.
Young kept the Orioles afloat while the game was still up for grabs. Alexander and Cowser both delivered big time performances at the dish, and Alonso’s big fly provided the explanation point. Who is your pick for the Most Birdland Player of the Day? Let us know in the comments below.
