Take care of your own business, and the rest will fall into place. It’s a quiet mantra the Orioles have taken to heart all season. As of today, that mantra has rung true more so than ever.
With the Rangers losing to Cleveland this afternoon, the Orioles were guaranteed a postseason spot, but to make the accomplishment more rewarding, the Birds needed to take care of business on their end and beat the Tampa Bay Rays.
After dropping the first two games of this four-game series, the Orioles had their backs to the wall and responded with an offensive outburst and then a never say die attitude to split the series, secure the playoffs and take the season series against the Rays.
In doing so, the Orioles essentially gave themselves an extra game lead, as the Rays will have to win the division outright now that the Orioles own the tiebreaker.
The Orioles lost 110 games two seasons ago before improving to 83-79 last season. Top prospects Adley Rutschman, Gunnar Henderson and Grayson Rodriguez have been key contributors to the turnaround, as have veterans Anthony Santander, Cedric Mullins and Austin Hays, who have been veteran leaders and have experienced those rough days in this organization.
For the first time since 2016, the Baltimore Orioles are headed back to the playoffs, and their new shirts say it all: Take October.
Let’s see how one of the biggest series of the season unfolded.
GAME 1: O’s 3, TB 4
The first game of this series was one that was a back and forth tug of war match.
Ryan O’Hearn got things started with a second-inning home run (13), putting the Birds in front 1-0, and with Kyle Bradish on the mound, that usually is a recipe for success.
Three singles and a triple from Randy Arozerena put the Rays back on top 3-1 before Bradish calmed down. A fourth-inning home run by Gunnar Henderson (26) and an RBI single by Adam Frazier pulled the Orioles to a 3-3 tie.
Bradish would stay in control until a missed strike call got under his skin in the seventh inning. The next pitch would result in a solo home run from Luke Raley that would give the Rays a 4-3 lead.
Bradish’s (L, 11-7) line would finish with seven innings, four earned runs and five strikeouts. Jorge López and Yennier Canó both pitched a clean inning in the 4-3 loss.
GAME 2: O’s 1, TB 7
Adam Jones signed a contract to retire as an Oriole, and a pregame ceremony with a video tribute would take place before the game. Unfortunately, that was as far as the good vibes would go.
For the first three innings, Jack Flaherty was lights out, striking out four batters while keeping the Rays off the board.
From the fourth through sixth innings, the Rays would touch up Flaherty (three earned), D.L. Hall (three earned) and Bryan Baker (one earned) for seven runs as they jumped out to a 7-0 lead.
The lone bright spot on offense was rookie Heston Kjerstad, who was making his first big league start. He would blast a 418-foot home run (1) for his first big league hit, homer, RBI and run. In doing so, he broke up a no-hitter and shut out all with one swing.
The Birds would drop the game 7-1, as the offense could only muster two hits as its woes continued. The Rays would move into a virtual tie for first with a pivotal game three looming.
GAME 3: O’s 8, TB 0
It was time for the young guns to step up to adversity and show the moxy they had all season. After matching a season-tying four-game losing streak, a spark was needed, and it was the young guns that would provide it.
Grayson Rodriguez would quickly set the tone, striking out two of the first three batters while hitting 100 mph right out of the gate.
In the bottom of the inning, Henderson singled and was followed by an Adley Rutschman walk. That led to O’Hearn knocking an RBI single, quickly giving the Birds a 1-0 lead. It would be all that Rodriguez would need, but the offense was just getting started.
Frazier would collect an RBI single in the second, and Henderson would follow with a two-run home run (27), giving the Orioles a 4-0 lead.
Meanwhile, Rodriguez was firing on all cylinders, as he kept the Rays off the board with an array of fastballs and nasty breaking pitches. It would be the first game Rodriguez would not issue a free pass in his young big league career.
In the fourth, Henderson and Rutschman would provide RBI singles to extend the lead to 6-0. That was followed by RBI singles in the fifth by Cedric Mullins and Ramón Urías, giving the Birds an 8-0 lead.
Rodriguez (W, 6-4) would go a career-high eight innings, allowing five hits and striking out seven, as he held the Rays to no runs in helping lead the team to a much-needed win.
Mike Baumann would close out the game, giving the Orioles an 8-0 victory and sole possession of first place and taking the season series from Tampa Bay. The offense totaled 11 hits and eight runs, taking out four games of frustration with Henderson, Urías and Aaron Hicks all having multi-hit games in the victory.
GAME 4: O’s 5, TB 4 – 11 INNINGS
The win of this game would secure a playoff berth, but the Orioles would be guaranteed a huge advantage in the division with a win as well.
Dean Kremer was up for the task at hand, as were the Orioles as a whole. Though Kremer gave up a solo home run in the first, he settled in and would complete five innings, allowing just two hits and the lone run.
The Orioles would score a run in the fourth when O’Hearn doubled and scored on Austin Hays RBI single. This knotted the game at one until the eighth inning.
Jorge López would give up back-to-back solo home runs as Tampa took a 3-1 lead as time was. However, the O’s All-Star catcher Rutschman would hit a solo home run (19) to draw within 3-2 after eight innings.
After a challenge overturned a scoring play in the top of the ninth, the Orioles and Rays would both secure a playoff berth when the Rangers lost to the Guardians. Regardless, each team wanted this game badly.
Hays would single and be replaced by Jorge Mateo as a pinch runner. Frazier would follow with a clutch RBI double down the left field line, tying the game at 3-3 and giving the fans free baseball.
The Rays would score in the top of the 10th, and the Orioles would return the favor in the bottom half when Rutschman would collect an RBI single, setting up an 11th-inning showdown.
Hall (W, 2-0) would shut down the Rays in the top of the inning. In the bottom half, O’Hearn laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt, which set up Mullins to get a game-winning sac-fly.
The bullpen totaled six innings, allowing three runs (two earned) on three hits, out-pacing the Rays’ bullpen, which went six innings, allowing four runs (two earned) on four hits.
The offense was led by Rutschman’s three hits and two RBIs as they came away with a 5-4 victory. The O’s split the series and left Baltimore up two games in the division with the series tiebreaker, giving them an extra game edge.
BATTERY ❌-FACTOR
For this big series, the Baltimore Orioles offense was dubbed the BATTERY ❌-FACTOR. Coming in with a two-game losing streak, after scoring two runs to close the previous series, the offense was going to have to turn up the heat.
Through the first two games, the offense remained missing, as they mustered four runs and five hits in the two losses. The Orioles matched their season-high four-game losing streak as things were looking bleak.
Then game three woke up the monster, as the Orioles pounded out eight runs on 11 hits and followed that with five runs on nine hits, as they won the final two games of the series and secured a spot in the 2023 postseason.
The Orioles had a wild postgame celebration in the clubhouse but hopped on a plane to head to Houston for another big showdown against the Astros immediately following.
The Birds will start their three-game series with Houston at 8:10 p.m. EST, as they continue to push for an AL East Title. Will the O’s stall GM Mike Elias’ old organization, or will the Astros show why they have been the AL darlings for the past eight years?
What do you think of this series split with Tampa Bay and the O’s clinching a postseason berth? 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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