The Orioles picked up a tidy win tonight against the Red Sox, 4-2. They used a few long balls, a little small ball, and one very good starting pitching performance to prevail over the last-place team in the AL East. If you fancy yourself a good team, these are the teams you have to beat. And tonight, the Orioles did just that.
The first inning of this game did not feel like a good omen, but thankfully, it was not indicative of how things turned out. Taylor Ward started with an eight-pitch walk, then
Gunnar Henderson doubled down the left field line. Ward landed at third and the Orioles had two runners in scoring position with no outs.
They blew it. The big trio of Adley Rutschman, Pete Alonso, and Samuel Basallo was unable to bring even one runner home. It felt bad in the moment, and worse when Jarren Duran led off the bottom of the first with a triple. He hit the ball to left field and it kicked off the wall and bounced away from Ward. Two batters later, Wilyer Abreu did what the Orioles could not and hit a long fly ball to score a run. Baz also walked a batter in the inning, but got out with a 1-0 deficit.
But it was only one run, and after that, the Orioles stepped up on both sides of the ball. Baz continued his string of strong starts. After the Duran double, he did not allow another hit until the fifth inning. That’s also when he allowed his next run. In that stretch, Baz retired the side in order in the second, third, and fourth. And he did it with a manageable pitch count.
Mickey Gasper started the bottom of the fifth with a single, then moved around the bases on a wild pitch, a fly ball out, and another sac fly to give the Red Sox their second run in the game. It was good work manufacturing the run by Boston, but that was all they got. Caleb Durbin followed the sac fly with a double, but was stranded on a Duran strikeout.
Baz had an easy sixth inning and started the seventh with a walk to Gasper, which I admit had me worried. When the lead is only two runs, every baserunner is dangerous. But Isiah Kiner-Falefa hit into a double play, turned very nicely by Coby Mayo and Blaze Alexander. Then Marcelo Mayer flew out to end the inning and Baz’s night.
And what a nice night it was. His fastball was sitting at 96-98 mph throughout, but what he really relied on was his knuckle curve. He threw it 39 times out of 94 pitches and got either a whiff or a called strike a third of the time. Five of his six strikeouts came on the knuckle curve. Baz’s final pitching line was 7 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 6 K. Over his last four starts, Baz has pitched seven innings three times. The fourth time he pitched six. He’s allowed seven runs in those four starts, which comes out to a 2.33 ERA. He has dropped his overall ERA from 5.48 to 4.29.
With starts like that, you don’t need too many runs. But they got to the Red Sox starting lefty, Connelly Early, for four runs in 5.1 innings. You love to see them hit a lefty.
After flubbing up the top of the first, the Orioles got right back to business in the second inning. After the broadcast posted an adorable pic of Coby Mayo proposing to his girlfriend on the off day yesterday, Mayo celebrated with a ball over the Green Monster. It actually hit off the top of the wall and bounced back into play, needing a crew chief review to confirm it as a dinger. But confirmed it was, and Mayo rounded the bases to tie the game at one.
They untied it in the very next inning. Rutschman lined a single back up the middle and Alonso absolutely smoked a ball to left field. Unlike Mayo’s Monster scraper, this one was a bullet that landed several rows back. It was measured at 400 feet and gave the Orioles a 3-1 lead.
The Orioles had one more run in them, and this time, Tyler O’Neill got involved. I know! I was surprised too. O’Neill, who probably has very fond memories of his hitting at Fenway Park back in 2024, singled on a line drive and then stole second base. Yes, he did! Leody Taveras bunted him over to third, and Alexander brought him home with a sac fly. After the two home runs, the Orioles wanted to give some love to the small-ball aficionados.
It’s a good thing they didn’t need any more runs, because they didn’t get any. The bats quieted down after the fourth inning. Early pitched into the sixth, and relief pitcher Greg Weissert was very tough. He retired all five batters he faced, and struck out three.
The Orioles tried to make some noise in the eighth inning, but were thwarted by a bad call and some bad luck. Gunnar Henderson appeared to beat out a ground ball, but it was called out on the field. The call stood on challenge, even though replays seemed to favor Gunnar. Rutschman walked and Alonso singled after the play, but then Alonso was hit by a Samuel Basallo ball and called out. He just couldn’t get out of the way of it. Mayo popped out to end the inning.
The bullpen was outstanding tonight, although I admit to being a little nervous to see Andrew Kittredge with just a two-run lead. But Kittredge allowed just a two-out single and has now had five straight scoreless appearances. The magnificent Rico Garcia came in for the save in the ninth and, as expected, got three quick outs to end the game. I love an easy wrap up!
Orioles win, 4-2, and kicked off June in a good way. Since being swept by the Rays in mid-May, they have gone 8-3. They are now three games shy of .500. They are back in action tomorrow at 6:45 with Chris Bassitt on the mound.
