The Orioles won’t have this luxury as September continues and the postseason arrives, with ever-growing pressure and top-of-the-line opponents leaving little room for stranding baserunners.
That isn’t lost on anyone in Baltimore’s clubhouse. But on Monday, with the lowly Chicago White Sox visiting Camden Yards, the opportunities were plentiful — so plentiful that the agonizing ineptitude of the game’s early innings didn’t come back to haunt the Orioles. They eventually broke through with a six-run sixth inning. It’s the kind of output that has been hard to produce in one game, let alone in one inning, but it was a reminder of what this offense can do.
Of course, it came against the league’s worst team. Still, the 13-3 win featured several facets that were promising, even if it also included an early continuation of an overly aggressive offensive approach that leads to increased strikeouts and a lack of production with runners in scoring position.
“This second half we haven’t had many games like this,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “Today it was, too, it was 3-2 in the fifth. That’s usually about what it is most nights. Hopefully this gives our hitters some confidence, too. We’ve got a bunch of guys kind of grinding right now offensively; they have been for a while. You start seeing your numbers improve a little bit on the board, you get a couple hits and you come to the park a little bit differently the next day.”
The game’s first four innings were full of vexing missed chances for the Orioles. Baltimore stranded eight runners and hit 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position.
Gunnar Henderson, the young star who’s stuck in his own personal slump, led off the game with a homer. His 34th this year, he tied Cal Ripken Jr. (1991) and Miguel Tejada (2004) for the most homers in a season from an Orioles shortstop. But with two on in scoring position with no outs, two strikeouts and a pop out ended that inning without another run.
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Baltimore stranded a leadoff single in the second; the Orioles scored twice in the third but left two on in scoring position; the bases were left loaded in the fourth.
“The beginning of the game was really frustrating because we left so many runners out there,” Hyde said.
Those are all examples of a months-long trend for this offense, which still ranks near the top of the majors in production since opening day but has dropped off since July. Entering Monday, the Orioles’ .244 average since July is 20th in baseball. They have long been inefficient with runners in scoring position — at .236, the Orioles are 24th in those situations since July and 17th since opening day (.253).
“It’s very rare a team doesn’t have a month like we had in August, and even in July,” said Austin Slater, who finished with three RBIs. “To still be where we are in the playoff hunt with those last two months being down months I think is pretty incredible, and hopefully exciting for us to know, ‘Hey, we’ve had stretches of playing our worst brand of baseball, and we’re still right in it.’ We can play the kind of baseball we played today, and if we keep doing that, we’ll be where we want to be.”
This is a team, when things are clicking, that can score in bunches, and while that hasn’t been the case frequently since the All-Star break, the White Sox gave the Orioles a surplus of chances. With them, Baltimore scored its most runs since June 20.
The sixth inning brought about a much-needed cascade of scoring, with Cedric Mullins and Austin Slater driving in three runs before the first out was recorded. For Slater, it was his third hit of the game. Another two runs scored when Emmanuel Rivera ripped a triple, and Henderson’s groundout plated Rivera.
And in the eighth, Mullins’ two-run homer completed one of Baltimore’s best offensive performances in months.
“Offensively, we know that’s the team that we are,” right-hander Corbin Burnes said. “We saw it for the first three months of the year before we got into a little funk. But there’s a reason why this offense is one of the bets offenses in the game. They showed it tonight. I think they will continue to.”
It all was more than enough support for Burnes. Burnes said his final start of August was a step in the right direction, even with six runs scoring. Only one of those were earned, with three errors behind him against the Dodgers leading to a loss.
Monday, by extension, was another positive step, even with traffic against him. Burnes allowed two runs in the first inning. But those batters reached on a pair of bloop singles and came home via a sacrifice fly and another single.
Burnes lasted five innings with six hits and a walk against Chicago. Those were the only two runs to score because Burnes used two well-timed double plays to end innings.
“It’s tough knowing I’m making good pitches and getting good contact,” Burnes said. “Most of the time, it’s gonna go for outs. But occasionally you’re gonna go through the stretch that you’re in and then everything falls in. Feels like you’re stuck. But made some pitches and got out of it. It’s easy to try to make an adjustment when you’re getting weak contact. I’ve done this long enough I know that when I’m getting weak contact and making good pitches that things are gonna turn in my favor.”
Behind Burnes, the bullpen outmatched the White Sox. And the offense did the rest.
The Orioles have been crying out for a game of this variety for much of the second half. It came against the White Sox, and the issues with runners in scoring position persisted with 16 players left on base. But a turnaround must happen at some point, and Chicago offered the Orioles the chances to start one.
