The Orioles closed the first half on a five-game winning streak. After the All-Star Break, the Orioles opened the second half by entertaining the Miami Marlins at beautiful Camden Yards.
The Marlins came in with an 11-4 record in AL ballparks and winners of 10 of their last 12 games. Two feel-good teams ended with the Orioles sweeping Miami and claiming their eighth straight victory.
The O’s are now a season-high 22 games over .500 and are one game behind the Tampa Bay Rays for the top spot in the AL East.
Let’s see how the games unfolded:
GAME 1: O’s 5, MIA 2
Dean Kremer is establishing himself as a front of the rotation pitcher. As he grows, the Orioles go, and once again, he put forth another dominating effort.
After ending June with an unusually bad outing, Kremer started July on fire. Shutting down the Yankees in his last start, Kremer came out and was just as strong against the Marlins.
Kremer (10-4) would pitch six innings, allowing a run on two hits and two walks. He struck out eight batters while throwing 97 pitches (60 for strikes)
Bryan Baker (H, 11), Yennier Canó (H, 20) and Félix Bautista (SV, 24) took over and shut the Marlins down to secure the victory.
On offense, Adam Frazier would have a day, as he would go 3-for-4 with two home runs (setting a career-high with 12) while scoring twice and picking up four RBIs.
Cedric Mullins would also go 3-for-4 with a home run, a run scored, an RBI and a stolen base. Overall, the offense pounded out 11 hits and collected two walks on the day as the Orioles won, 5-2.
GAME 2: O’s 6, MIA 5
Kyle Gibson has struggled as of late. Giving up four or more runs in three of his previous four starts, Gibson was hoping the rest from the All-Star Break would help change things.
Gibby would grind through 5.1 innings, allowing five earned runs. He gave up nine hits and walked two as he struggled with his command throughout the night.
Mike Baumann (6-0) would pitch 1.2 innings of scoreless relief, which was a turning point in the game.
After the Marlins raved out to a 4-0 lead, Cedric Mullins would lace an RBI single after a Ryan Mountcastle double and Aaron Hicks walk to get the Birds on the board. Mullins would leave after with quad tightness, but the inning would continue.
Jorge Mateo would follow with a two-out, two-RBI triple to cut the deficit to 4-3. The Marlins then added another run in the fourth to grab a 5-3 lead.
After an Adley Rutschman double in the fifth, Anthony Santander would pick up an RBI single, making the score 5-4.
Gunnar Henderson led off the eighth with a game-tying home run (14), and successive singles by Austin Hays, Rutschman and Santander would give the Orioles a 6-5 lead.
The All-Star duo of Canó (H, 21) and Bautista (SV, 25) would shut the Marlins down from there, securing the Orioles’ seventh straight win and their 33rd come-from-behind victory.
GAME 3: O’s 5, MIA 4
One of the least talked about Orioles is Kyle Bradish. A front-line starter in the making, Bradish continues to dominate opposing teams. He has five straight starts of allowing two runs or less coming in and had totaled 14 starts of three runs or less on the season.
Bradish once again dominated his outing by going 7.1 innings and allowing zero runs. The O’s crafty right-hander has now pitched 15.2 innings without allowing a run. He struck out eight and allowed just three hits for the game.
Bradish (6-4) improves to 2-1 in July with an ERA of 0.47 across 19.1 innings of work. Opponents are hitting .186 against him while he holds a 0.88 WHIP.
The Orioles rushed out to a 3-0 lead to open the game. Gunnar Henderson would double to open the bottom of the first and score on Adley Rutschman’s double. Behind Rutschman, Santander would hit a home run, his 100th career homer, to give the Birds an early lead.
A walk by Ramón Urías was followed by Colton Cowser and Adam Frazier being hit by pitches to load the bases. James McCann followed with a fielder’s choice, which scored a run. Gunnar Henderson then hit a sacrifice fly to make it 5-0 Orioles.
From there, Bradish coasted before handing the ball over to the bullpen. Bryan Baker pitched 0.2 innings of clean ball, but Eduard Bazardo would allow three runs and Danny Coulombe (SV, 1) one before he closed the game out to pick up his first save.
The offense mustered only five hits on the day, but they picked up three walks and two hit batters. The offense scored five runs, and though it was a nail-biter at the end, the Orioles would secure their eighth straight victory.
BATTERY ❌-FACTOR
The BATTERY ❌-FACTOR for the series was how the Orioles’ offense would respond coming out of the break. Having scored six or more runs in four of five games, would the time off cool them down?
After sweeping the Marlins, the O’s offense would score five or more runs in each game. They strung together 11, 11 and five hits in the games, as the offense looks to have continued their streak of both scoring and hitting.
The Orioles are now 8-0 with Colton Cowser, and Gunnar Henderson, Adley Rutschman and Anthony Santander continue to be key factors in the offense as they continue their pace.
The Birds have little time to enjoy their sweep as they welcome the Los Angeles Dodgers to town. The Dodgers were winners of six straight going into their match-up with the Mets Sunday night.
Which team will keep their streak alive? Will the Birds catch the Rays and push their season-high winning streak forward?
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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