Finally…The Orioles Losing Streak is Over

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orioles fans

After dropping seven straight games across three different series, the Baltimore Orioles are finally winners. On Saturday night, they dropped the Colorado Rockies 9-6 at Coors Field in Denver, improving their record to 16-36 overall.

Andrew Cashner picked up his team-best fifth win of 2019, striking out five in five innings while walking none. And while the offense stayed hot, it wasn’t always a sure thing. In fact, it got scary for a little bit, and because it’s the Orioles, it wasn’t a surprise.

Up 7-4 after a three-run homer by Jonathan Villar, it looked like another disaster was brewing for the O’s. First, Nolan Arenado knocked in a run in the fifth, followed by a two-out homer in the bottom of the sixth by Chris Iannetta to cut Baltimore’s lead to one.

It definitely got fuzzy for a minute but they were way overdue and it was clearly time to close out a win.

With Seunghwan Oh in the game for the Rockies, Baltimore delivered some insurance. They loaded the bases immediately and hit paydirt when Stevie Wilkerson notched his first hit from the right side, scoring Trey Mancini. Dwight Smith Jr., in a pinch-hitting role, added an RBI single later in the inning to bring Baltimore’s lead to 9-6.

Although they had a solid lead, the bullpen can’t quite be trusted at this point; they still had nine outs to secure the win. Luckily, Josh Lucas turned in the best performance of his career. In a three-inning save, Lucas dominated the Colorado lineup, allowing just one hit and zero runs while striking out three.

The save was Lucas’ first as an MLB player.

Since getting shut out 10-0 to end their series in Cleveland, the O’s bats have been electric, averaging six runs per game (36 runs in six games), and in their slump-busting win, they stayed hot. As a team, they had a season-high 17 hits, highlighted by four from Pedro Severino and three apiece from Jonathan Villar and Renato Nunez.

Nunez, who had hit four homers in his last five games, added another bomb to his season total, giving him 12 for the season and five in six games. Also, because they were in an NL park, Nunez made a rare start in the field (at first base); at this point, he’s hit himself into the lineup. Brandon Hyde will find somewhere for him to play and with Chris Davis struggling again, first base makes a lot of sense.

It should be noted that all eight position players (besides Cashner) recorded a hit on Saturday.

Baltimore will wrap their series up in Denver on Sunday at 3 p.m ET before returning home for a six-game stand (vs. Detroit & San Francisco).

 

CATEGORY: MLB