Sweet victory; the losing streak is over! We’re not talking about it anymore! Instead, there’s a new streak in the air, and that’s a winning streak! It has been done before!
The Orioles pulled out two victories in this three-game set, securing their first series win since July 25. A much improved average with RISP was a lot of help, as well as really solid pitching. Also, sage was burning at the ballpark, so…
Throughout the entire series, the bullpen was on its game once again. There were a couple of poor outings, including Konner Wade’s five runs in game one and Marcos Diplán’s three earned in game two. Besides those eight runs, the bullpen allowed just one other run.
Fernando Abad had himself a fantastic outing in game one. He allowed three hits and no runs across 3.1 innings. If Abad is able to eat up innings efficiently like that, it would mean the world to this team and bullpen overall.
The starting rotation in this series was a little different, but two out of three guys were successful, nonetheless. Spenser Watkins started game one and completely sucked. The Angels got eight runs off him. Recent waiver claim, Chris Ellis, started game two as a bullpen game, and Keegan Akin followed that in game three. Ellis allowed three runs in two innings, before he was saved by the offense and the bullpen in a come-from-behind victory.
The story of this series, besides finally breaking the streak and completely shutting Shohei Ohtani down, was Akin’s start in game three. Good for his longest start in his career, Akin allowed just three hits and one run over seven innings. The only run was an Ohtani home run to lead off the game.
Thankfully, the Jorge López bullpen experiment seems to be working. In relief of Akin in game three, López followed with two scoreless innings, where he struck out four. That’s phenomenal!
Akin pitched his finest game of his career, and both him and the bullpen benefited from a lot of run support over the last two games of this series. The Orioles hit seven home runs and were 13-for-31 with RISP. That’s good for a .419 average.
Anthony Santander showed out in this series, going 7-for-14 with two home runs and four RBI. Ramón Urías also had himself an easy time with the Angels’ pitching, as he went 5-for-8 with five RBI.
In games two and three, Austin “Clutch” Hays became the best pinch hitter in the world! He extended a late 7-6 lead in game two with a two-RBI double with the bases loaded to go up 9-6. In game three, he went 2-for-2 and scored after both of his base hits. And he didn’t even start!
The energy was back at The Yard once Hays sent that ball off the wall in left field, ensuring fans that the streak was going to end. Pedro Severino’s grand slam in game three further brought the energy, and he soaked it all in during his extremely long home run trot!
Also, granting the wishes of all Oriole fans, Jahmai Jones made his Orioles debut. He went 2-for-13 in his first action in Baltimore.
Here are the final scores from this series:
Game 1: LAA 14, BAL 8
- Loss: Watkins (2-6)
- Mountcastle: 2-for-5, 2 HR (23), 2 RBI
- Santander: 4-for-5, 3 RBI
- Urías: 2-for-4, 2B (11), 3 RBI
- Abad: 3.1 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 3 K
Game 2: BAL 10, LAA 6
- Win: Scott (5-4)
- Mullins: 2-for-4, HR (22), 3 RBI
- Santander: 3-for-4, HR (14), RBI
- Stewart: 1-for-2, HR (11), 2 RBI
- Greene: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER
- Wells: 1 IP, 0 H, 1 K
Game 3: BAL 13, LAA 1
- Win: Akin (1-8) 7 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 6 K
- Mancini: 2-for-5, RBI
- Severino: 2-for-5, Grand Slam HR (10), 6 RBI
- Urías: 3-for-4, 2B (12), 2 RBI
- Mountcastle: 2-for-4, 2 RBI
- López: 2 IP, 0 H, 4 K
(Battery Writer – Davis Carbaugh)
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