Though the Orioles’ win streak was haulted at seven, they still left Boston winning their seventh straight series, extending their streak of not being swept to 85 series and completing a 7-2 road trip.
Now the Orioles will head home with a head-to-head match up with Tampa Bay looming, but first will face the St. Louis Cardinals, after taking the series against Boston, two games to one, improving to 5-4 on the year head-to-head.
The Orioles have reached 90 wins in the quickest time since 1979. With an offense that has been on fire, pitching that has been clutch and defense that keeps making strong play after play, the Orioles will have 20 games left to fight it out for postseason positioning.
Let’s see how the series unfolded.
GAME 1: O’s 11, Sox 2
The Orioles are in the midst of a buffing ace before their eyes. The score might show an offensive outburst, but it was Kyle Bradish who stole the game.
In his 26th start, Bradish would allow three earned runs or less and his fifth straight game (4-0) of six innings with two runs or less. Bradish (W, 11-6) would complete six innings, allowing two runs on four hits with nine strikeouts.
Jacob Webb (H, 10), D.L. Hall and Jorge López would follow with three innings of scoreless ball.
Gunnar Henderson (3-for-6) fell a triple shy of the cycle while leading five players with multi-hit games (Henderson, Adley Rutschman, Ryan O’Hearn, Aaron Hicks and Ramón Urías).
Rutschman (18), who had three RBIs, and O’Hearn hit solo home runs, while Hicks and Cedric Mullins had two RBIs a piece. The offense scored 11 runs on 14 hits, while the Orioles had their sixth straight game with 10+ hits in winning 11-2.
GAME 2: O’s 13, Sox 12
If you were looking for excitement and stress, this was the game to watch. After a 92-minute rain delay to start the game, it was obvious pitching was not the answer, but the offense sure made for a fun time, and it went until the final out of the game.
Shintaro Fujinami (W, 7-8) pitched 1.2 scoreless innings to pick up the win. He was joined by Danny Coulombe and López (H, 9) as the only pitchers not to allow a run. The Orioles used seven total pitchers in the game.
Offensively, Hicks and Jordon Westburg both fell a triple short of the cycle as they, James McCann and Anthony Santander all had multi-hit games. McCann hit two home runs (6), and Gunnar Henderson hit a three-run shot (24), as did Hicks (8) and Westburg, who had a solo shot (3).
The Orioles built leads of 7-2, 12-6 and 13-9 but could not put Boston away until they had the winning run on second with two outs in the ninth. However, Emmanuel Valdez would fly out to Austin Hays to end the game.
It was the first time since September 19-24, 2011, that the Orioles have gone seven straight games with 10 or more hits and their fastest to 90 wins (90-51) since 1979 when it took 136 to reach 90 victories.
It was also the first time since September 3, 1981, that a team (Mariners) won a game allowing 20+ hits (20-inning game) to an opponent, also played at Fenway Park. It was also the first time since 1930 a team allowed 23+ hits in a nine-inning game and won.
The Orioles had 14 hits (nine extra-base hits, five home runs and four doubles) while scoring 13 runs to take the 13-12 in just nine innings.
GAME 13: O’s 3, Sox 7
A game with a score more misleading than the actual stats.
A 42-minute delay pushed the start of the game back and then an hour and 28-minute delay with two-out in the bottom of the eighth was sandwiched around a light rain that led to a sloppy defensive day from the Orioles.
Errors by Ramón Urías, O’Hearn and Rutschman would lead to five unearned runs as defense was the downfall for the Birds in this one.
Grayson Rodriguez (L, 5-4) took the loss after allowing four runs (two earned) in 4.1 innings of work. He would walk two, hit a batter and allow seven hits while striking out six.
Cole Irvin would follow, allowing three runs (zero earned) in 2.2 innings while allowing just one hit and hitting a batter. Joey Kriehbal followed with a scoreless, hitless inning.
Adam Frazier led the offense with two hits and two RBIs, while Hicks added an RBI single. The offense mustered just seven hits and one walk in falling to Boston, 7-3.
The loss ends the Orioles seven-game winning streak and allowed Tampa Bay to move to three games behind the Birds, as they took down Seattle today.
BATTERY ❌-FACTOR
This series, the Orioles’ ability to take care of business without looking ahead was the BATTERY ❌-FACTOR.
It’s safe to say that they did a good job of that until the final game. They scored 10+ runs and 10+ hits in the first two games of the series, and it took two hours of rain delays and a light rain during the game to bring the winning streak to an end.
Though they lost the final game, the Orioles did sandwich a seven-game win streak and seven straight games with 10+ hits over the course of their nine-game road trip.
The Orioles remain focused and determined in their postseason push and appear focused on taking care of their own business before worrying about others.
The Orioles will head home to start a seven-game homestand with a three-game series against the St. Louis Cardinals. There are 20 games left, and the Orioles sit at 90-52, with a magic number of seven to secure a playoff spot and 17 to secure the division.
The Orioles will begin their homestand against the Cardinals Monday night at 6:35 p.m. EST. It’s an interleague Battle of the Birds, so be ready to rock The Nest and cheer our Orioles to victory.
What do you think of this series win against Boston? Let us know in the comments below! Make sure to follow The Baltimore Battery on Facebook, Twitter (X) and TikTok, and use the hashtag #baltimorebattery when sharing our content!
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