It’s no secret; the Orioles struggled in their last few series. The offense seemed lost and without direction. The bullpen was a liability in the middle, and yet they still maintained the third best record in baseball.
A return home and a series date with the Kansas City Royals was just enough to start a fire for this young Orioles ball club.
The O’s offense came to life in this series with two wins of five or more runs and some strong pitching from start to finish. It not only led to the Orioles’ 15th series win but also their fourth series sweep of the season.
Let’s take a look at how the series unfolded as the Orioles improved to 41-24.
GAME 1: O’s 3, KC 2
Tyler Wells was ready to keep his standards as high as usual. One to consider less than at least six innings a failure, Wells was ready to face Kansas City for the second time this season.
Wells (5-2) came out and fired 6.2 innings of five-hit, two-run ball to earn his fifth win of the season. Wells, who leads the league in WHIP (0.85) and is second in BAA (.181 avg), completed his 13th straight game of pitching five or more innings.
The bullpen would fire 2.1 inning of no-run ball with Mike Baumann (H,3), Yennier Canó (H,14) and Félix Bautista (SV,17) completing the back end of the game.
The offense was led by Gunnar Henderson’s 3-for-3 day, which included two stolen bases and a run. Austin Hays was 2-for-2 with a double, a home run and RBI. Jorge Mateo picked up two stolen bases (18) and an RBI, and Anthony Santander collected an RBI of his own, as the Orioles won this one by a score of 3-2.
GAME 2: O’s 6, KC 1
The return of Cole Irvin was the talk of the day, and he made sure to keep it up through the game. After being sent down following control issues and an 0-2 record to start the season, Irvin would come in and drop his ERA from 10.66 to 3.85.
Irvin would give the Orioles 5.1 strong innings of six-hit, one-run ball en route to picking up his first win as an Oriole. He would collect five strikeouts, but the key for the left-hander was zero walks.
Irvin would be aided by nifty defensive plays by Anthony Santander, Aaron Hicks and Adam Frazier, as the Birds did all they could to keep the Royals off balance.
Bryan Baker (H, 10), Austin Voth (H, 4), Cionel Pérez (H, 8) would all pick up holds while Mike Baumann would close out the game. The bullpen pitched 3.2 innings, allowing two total hits, three walks and striking out three without yielding a run.
Once again, the offense soared, and it was Gunnar Henderson leading the way, this time from the lead-off spot. Henderson would go 2-for-5 on the day, picking up his eighth home run on the season.
Anthony Santander (3-for-4) and Ryan O’Hearn (2-for-2) collected multiple hits, while Adam Frazier, who homered, collected two RBIs. Santander, Henderson, O’Hearn and Austin Hays also collected RBIs as the offense collected 10 total hits and five walks in the 6-1 victory.
GAME 3: O’S 11, KC 3
Kyle Gibson, who’s turning into the best free agent pitcher acquisition this offseason, continues to impress. Finding a career revival, the savvy veteran pitched another strong game in leading the Orioles to a series sweep.
Gibson would pitch 6.1 innings, allowing three runs on seven hits. After not collecting a swing and miss in his last start against the Royals, Gibson (8-3) picked up his fourth straight win and is 4-0 with a 2.61 ERA over his last five starts.
The offense was once again led by rookie sensation Gunnar Henderson. Picking up three hits, including his ninth home run that visited Eutaw Street and three RBIs, the 21-year-old seems to be finding his groove.
Ryan O’Hearn (3-for-3) hit a home run as part of his day that saw him reach base five times, while Ramón Urías (4-for-5) and rookie Josh Lester (2-for-4) each picked up two RBIs for the day. Austin Hays, Aaron Hicks and James McCann also picked up RBIs on the day.
The offense pounded out 14 total hits and collected five walks, as they scored 11 times and recorded their second straight victory of five or more runs. Keegan Akin pitched 2.2 innings while striking out six of the nine batters he faced.
The Orioles picked up their fourth series sweep while improving to 14-6-1 on series for the year. They also won their fourth in row for the first time since May 9-13 of this year and are 17 games over .500 for the first time since July 26, 2016.
BATTERY ❌-FACTOR: DID IT CLICK? – YES
To say this was the nail on the head would be an understatement. For the series, Gunnar Henderson was going to be the key to the O’s series victory. Not only was he a key factor, but he led off two games and provided the spark the Orioles had been missing.
For the series, Henderson hit .615 and saw his average climb from .199 to .236. Since May 30, Henderson is 13-for-32 at the plate for a .406 average. In the series, he collected eight hits, including two home runs and a double, four RBIs, two stolen bases and five runs, while striking out only twice.
Henderson saw his slugging percentage rise .044 points to .455 and his OBP rise to .349. For June, he is slashing .458/.480/1.000. He’s getting hot at the right time for the Birds.
The Orioles will have a day off Monday before welcoming division rivals the Toronto Blue Jays to Oriole Park at Camden Yards for three games.
Will the winning streak continue? Find out starting Tuesday, but in the meantime, enjoy the victory and remember: You can’t clip these wings.
What do you think of this series sweep? Let us know in the comments below! Make sure to follow The Baltimore Battery on Facebook, Twitter and TikTok, and use the hashtag #baltimorebattery when sharing our content!
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