The Orioles used a pair of home runs and a dynamite night of pitching to prevail in the series opener in Atlanta.
Charlie Morton diced up his former team, the Orioles bullpen was perfect, and a pair of home runs gave them all the offense they needed in a 3-2 series-opening win against the Braves on Friday night in Atlanta.
The first inning saw the Orioles waste a great scoring opportunity. Jordan Westburg singled, and then Gunnar Henderson doubled to put two runners in scoring position with one out. But neither would make it home as Ryan O’Hearn struck out, and Ramón Laureano was retired on a groundout right back to the pitcher.
With a pitcher as good as Spencer Strider on the mound, failing to score there felt like a fatal mistake. But in a game where neither team did particularly well at cashing in on base runners, the Orioles were actually slightly better.
Westburg put the O’s on the board in the third inning with a two-out home run. The solo shot was poked the opposite way and just snuck over the right field wall for a 1-0 lead.
Those weren’t the only fireworks in this game. Cedric Mullins tripled the away team’s advantage in the fifth inning with a two-run bomb. His 13th long ball of the season was blasted to right field, also scoring the recently-returned Tyler O’Neill to make it 3-0 for the good guys.
That’s all the scoring that Baltimore would do. From the sixth inning on they had just one base runner (an O’Neill walk in the seventh inning). Every other hitter was put away.
Fortunately, Charlie Morton was dynamite on the mound for the Birds, and the bullpen was even better behind him.
Over 5.1 innings Morton allowed just two runs on six hits, one walk, and seven strikeouts. Both of the runs he allowed came on a sixth inning home run by Drake Baldwin, which also scored Jurickson Profar. That made it 3-2 and Morton was removed from the game one batter later.
The veteran starter had wiggled his way out of a few jams earlier in the game. For example, the first two batters on the second inning reached base before Morton got the next three to end the frame. In the third inning he gave up a single and a double with one out, but forced a key strikeout and then recorded the final out to escape unscathed.
Morton leaned on his curveball and four-seam. The curve had a 43% whiff rate, and his four-seam was at 40% in this game. Both are impressive marks that show just how much he has turned his season around since an abhorrent April. If the Orioles do fail to turn things around in time—which looks likely—Morton is going to be a relatively hot commodity at the upcoming trade deadline.
Andrew Kittredge came on for Morton. He was perfect, as was the rest of the ‘pen. He got the final two outs of the six inning, and then tossed a clean seventh inning as well. Bryan Baker worked a flawless eighth inning, and Félix Bautista closed things out with a 1-2-3 ninth inning for his 17th save of the season.
The pitching was the standout for the Orioles, as it has been for much of the last month and a half. The staff has really found it’s way, and it is often leading the team to victory. Imagine saying that back in April?
The same cannot be said for the offense, which continues to be almost entirely reliant on home runs to score. All three of their runs came on the long ball in this one, and while that was enough on this occasion, three runs does not cut it most nights.
O’Neill returned to the lineup and reached base twice. That was good to see. Right now, it seems inevitable that he will be opting into the two additional years on his contract unless he really gets hot (and stays healthy) for the rest of the season.
Westbug was great, recording three hits, including the home run. When he is out of the lineup, the offense really feels it. It’s no coincidence that his health struggles the last 12 months have lined up pretty perfectly with the poor showings this team has had.
Henderson’s OPS is back up above .800 for the first time since May 14. He had two hits, including a double. That’s a good sign. He also made a nifty defensive play in the seventh inning to keep the bases empty. It would be nice to see him hit more home runs, but we will take what we can get at this point.
All in all, a good team win with Morton at the tip of the spear. The Orioles will go for a series win on Saturday. First pitch is 4:10 pm with Dean Kremer on the mound to face a yet-to-be-announced foe from Atlanta.