The Orioles continued this maddening season by beating the bad teams they needed to beat and moving themselves right back into prime position in the Wild Card race. This week, it was largely the bats and bullpen doing the work.
The O’s took two of three in St. Louis before sweeping the Athletics in Sacramento, going 5-1 through the first six games of their nine-game road trip and moving to within one game of .500 for the first time since April. More importantly, the Birds are now just one game behind Cleveland for the final American League Wild Card spot.
The schedule certainly helped. The Cardinals are hovering around .500 and the Athletics are one of baseball’s worst teams. Sweeping Oakland does not suddenly make the Orioles a juggernaut, but there comes a point where complaining about opponent quality misses the point. Baltimore spent much of this season wasting chances against beatable teams. This week, it took advantage of one.
They scored 43 runs in six games and never scored fewer than four. Six Orioles hitters finished the week with an OPS above .900. Even with Kyle Bradish and Trevor Rogers getting knocked around in St. Louis, the offense did enough to produce five wins and drag the team back to the edge of the playoff field.
For a season that has repeatedly looked dead, that is enough to make September interesting.
Road trip recap
The trip began Tuesday with one of Baltimore’s easiest wins of the season. The Orioles hammered St. Louis 13-1, tying their season high in runs. Pete Alonso went 4-for-4 with his 31st homer and four RBIs, Christian Encarnacion-Strand homered and drove in three, and Jackson Holliday added three hits in front of his family. Chris Bassitt allowed one run over 6 2/3 innings with five strikeouts and no walks.
Wednesday was more stressful. The O’s jumped out to a 7-0 lead behind a three-run Leody Taveras homer and another long ball from Alonso, then gave all seven runs back. Encarnacion-Strand rescued Baltimore in the ninth with a go-ahead RBI double, and Andrew Kittredge escaped the bottom half with help from an excellent Holliday defensive play to preserve an 8-7 win.
The Cardinals got the Orioles on Thursday. Rogers surrendered six runs over five innings, including a three-run homer to Blaze Jordan and a two-run shot from former Oriole Ramón Urías. Coby Mayo hit a three-run homer in the seventh and Gunnar doubled home another in the eighth, but Baltimore could not finish the comeback in a 7-5 loss.
Friday brought a different kind of game against the Athletics. Brandon Young threw seven excellent innings, allowing one run on five hits and a walk, but Baltimore carried only a 2-1 lead into the late innings. Oakland tied it before Mayo and Encarnacion-Strand delivered consecutive two-out RBI singles in the 10th. Alex Hoppe allowed the automatic runner to score but held on for his first major-league save in a 4-3 win.
The Birds secured the series Saturday with a 5-3 win. Shane Baz earned his first victory since June 12, allowing two runs over 5 2/3 innings. Colton Cowser homered, and Taveras broke out of an 0-for-12 skid with two doubles and three RBIs. Kittredge handled the ninth to finish it.
Sunday looked like the sweep was slipping away when Bassitt fell into an early hole and Oakland built a 5-1 lead. Then Gunnar took over. He hit a first-inning homer, Mayo cut the deficit to one with a three-run shot in the fourth, and Gunnar blasted a three-run homer in the fifth to put the O’s ahead. He later added a triple in the eighth, finishing 4-for-4 with two home runs, a triple and five RBIs in an 8-5 comeback win.
Player of the Week: Gunnar Henderson
There were several legitimate candidates. Encarnacion-Strand went 10-for-25 with three doubles, a homer and six RBIs. Mayo homered twice and drove in eight. Alonso continued his strong August with two more home runs and six RBIs.
But Henderson gets the award. His final line was .300/.391/.750 with a double, triple, two home runs, six RBIs and a 1.141 OPS. Most of that came from one spectacular Sunday afternoon. Before then, Gunnar had only two hits in the first five games of the week, but sometimes one afternoon is enough.
The Orioles entered Sunday trying to complete a sweep and quickly found themselves down 5-1. Gunnar responded with four hits, two homers, a triple and five RBIs. His three-run homer in the fifth turned a one-run deficit into a two-run lead, and his second homer provided insurance in the eighth.
One monster game does not erase Gunnar’s disappointing season, just as one strong week did not when he heated up earlier this month. The Orioles still need much more consistency from the player who is supposed to be the franchise centerpiece. But if they are going to turn this ridiculous Wild Card race into a September playoff push, they need Henderson capable of taking over games. Sunday showed that he still can.
On the mound
Young gave the Orioles perhaps the best start of the week with seven innings of one-run ball against Oakland. It was exactly the kind of outing Baltimore has increasingly come to expect from Young: keeping the ball in the park, limiting free passes and giving the offense a chance to win.
Anthony Nunez was excellent out of the bullpen, working 4 1/3 innings while allowing only two hits and one walk with nine strikeouts. Nine of the 13 outs he recorded came via strikeout.
Down on the farm
At Norfolk, Cade Povich struck out 11 over 5 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing two hits and one walk. Félix Bautista added two scoreless rehab innings, allowing one hit, no walks and striking out two. Heston Kjerstad went 6-for-17 with two doubles for a .353/.389/.471 line.
Michael Forret had another mixed start, allowing two earned runs and two hits over five innings with six strikeouts, but also walking four. At Chesapeake, Anthony Eyanson struck out eight over 3 2/3 scoreless innings. Caden Hunter struck out eight and allowed one earned run over five innings, while Patrick Reilly struck out seven in four innings of one-run ball.
Joseph Dzierwa finally looked human, allowing four runs and nine hits over five innings after weeks of dominant results. The encouraging part was that he did not walk anyone. On the position-player side, Victor Figueroa went 8-for-21 with three doubles and a homer for a 1.102 OPS, while Vance Honeycutt collected two doubles, a triple and a homer while stealing another base.