Free Baseball, Weird Baseball (O’s Win 3-2)

BALTIMORE — It was about as dramatic an ending as you could have hoped. If your ideal soundtrack to an Orioles win is a fart noise. With runners on the corners, Manny Machado hit a come-backer to the mound, that, instead of garnering an inning-ending (and game extending) double play, resulted in the old pitcher-drops-the-ball-then-kind-of-without-conviction-throws-it-to-home-but-the-catcher-can’t-handle-it-as-the-runner-slides-into-the-plate.

Typical.

 
OK, so this ending lacked the fireworks. It lacked the drama. But it was enough. If pushed the Orioles to a season-high eighteen games above .500, and provided additional breathing room in the AL East, as Boston fell to the Tigers, and back to 2.5 games behind the Orioles.

The game was dominated by pitching early, as Yovani Gallardo worked his way through 6.2 innings, allowing only two runs. Gallardo looked to be in full control, and was staked to a lead early, but gave up a no-doubter to Rockies’ third baseman Nolan Arenado, tying the game at 1-1.

 
Actually, let’s stop and talk about Arenado for a second. He had a rocky game, defensively – he made two errors, including one that allowed noted hard runner, Manny Machado, to reach. The comparisons started on Twitter, on barstools, and in living rooms around Birdland. But let’s not be too smug, O’s fans: this guy is really good, too. And it takes nothing away from our all-world third baseman to admit it.

The Rockies took the lead in the most gut-wrenching way possible: old “friend” Mark Reynolds delivered an RBI single in the seventh, sending Gallardo to the showers, and O’s fans into nervous fits of giggles. Not to worry – Adam Jones found his way into a POFO, and drove in a run in the bottom of the seventh, to tie the game.

There it would remain until the play I described at the top.

So there you have it: Birds win. Here are some thoughts from the game:

• Adam Jones had some really good at-bats tonight. He didn’t drive any into the seats. There was nothing that will make the highlight reel. But in the second inning, Jones acknowledged the situation, with two strikes, and poked a single into right field to score J.J. Hardy from third. Then in the seventh, he put  ball on the ground to the right side, again, to score a runner from third. It was really nice not having to write about Jones trying to hit the Bromoseltzer Tower.
• Orioles Twitter is really mad at Matt Wieters right now. Not only is he slumping at the plate, but every defensive miscue is another sign that Wieters needs to go. I’m not making an argument that Wieters is putting this club on his back and winning ballgames, but if you’re one of the vocal majority, do us all a favor and acknowledge that he’s not “complete trash.”
• The Orioles won a close game, deploying a bullpen that did not include Brad Brach and Darren O’Day. The Colorado Rockies may not be the ’27 Yankees, but is nice to see the likes of Mychal Givens and Chaz Roe come into tight games that matter, and come through in the clutch. Givens even got Charlie Blackmon – a lefty.
• The 19,361 here at Camden Yards provided polite applause for the returns of Mark Reynolds and Nick Hundley. No word on how they would have handled Gerardo Parra – it was probably for the best. The Orioles faithful also recognized Rox left fielder, David Dahl, for his MLB debut and his first major league hit. Nicely done, Birdland.
• Dariel Alvarez was useful in his cup of coffee, delivering a double. Alvarez will certainly be Norfolk-bound in the roster move that will bring Hyun Soo Kim back to the active roster. Even if I don’t believe that Alvarez can contribute on an every-day basis, it’s nice to know that he’s got it in him, when it comes to the Norfolk Shuttle. Always nice to have role players like that. And if he pleasantly surprises me in the future? All the better.
• It always seems like there’s free baseball when I visit the press box. With Chris Davis’ lack of offensive production, I was terrified we were in for another 16-inning marathon, in which he would deliver the win from the mound.

There you have it, O’s fans. We don’t do this kind of thing very often. But we applied some lack of insight and baseless opinion to this game. Scott and I will both be in the park tomorrow (in the green seats), soaking up our standard Bird’s Eye View.

Orioles win 3-2. Adieu, adieu.