Who stood out in the Orioles’ 12-5 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday afternoon?
In the spirit of hockey’s “three stars” system with the addition of home plate for honorable mentions and other notes, we go around the bases after the 75th game of the 2016 season.
1st — Chris Davis was nearly given the day off against Tampa Bay’s Drew Smyly, but he instead served as the designated hitter and clubbed a grand slam to left field in the bottom of the first inning. The big blow came on a 1-2 fastball after the Rays lefty had made Davis look foolish on three consecutive sliders to begin the at-bat. It was the seventh grand slam of Davis’ career and his first since Aug. 15 of last season. The slugger added a walk and a single and scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the eighth as the Orioles busted the game wide open.
2nd — Adam Jones continues to thrive in the leadoff spot, collecting a walk and four hits to elevate his season average to .265 after a difficult beginning to 2016. The center fielder bunted for a hit to score Nolan Reimold on a safety squeeze in the top of the second. Jones’ walk was his 20th of the season, which is just four shy of his total from 2015 and exceeds the 19 he drew in 2014. He has hit safely in 14 of his last 15 games and has posted a .369 average with three doubles, six homers, 16 RBIs, and a 1.098 on-base plus slugging percentage over that stretch.
3rd — Mark Trumbo provided the pick-me-up the Orioles needed after Tyler Wilson was unable to protect a five-run lead as he hit a two-run homer in the fifth inning to increase the lead to 8-5. On the same day fans at Camden Yards received a Trumbo t-shirt giveaway, the 30-year-old hit his 22nd long ball of the year to match his total from 2015 in 224 fewer plate appearances. He added an RBI single in the eighth.
Home — Dylan Bundy tossed three scoreless innings in relief of Wilson, striking out four and allowing two hits to ease the load on the rest of the bullpen. The young right-hander threw a season-high 57 pitches. … Jonathan Schoop and Manny Machado each had three-hit performances with the former hitting his 13th home run of the season and the latter scoring three times. … The Orioles completed their first ever four-game sweep of the Rays to improve to a season-best 15 games above .500. Baltimore also increased its lead in the American League East to a 2016-high four games over second-place Boston. … The Orioles will spend their off-day in San Diego before beginning a brief two-game set Tuesday night as Ubaldo Jimenez takes the hill against Padres right-hander Erik Johnson.
