Who stood out in the Orioles’ 12-7 win over the Boston Red Sox on Thursday night?
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 52nd game of the 2016 season.
1st — Mark Trumbo produced his fourth multi-homer game of the season with the first blast being a two-run shot to give the Orioles a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning. His second long ball came in the bottom of the sixth after Ubaldo Jimenez’s disastrous top half of the inning had resulted in Boston taking a 5-4 lead. The timing of the game-tying blast couldn’t have been better for Baltimore’s karma after rapidly losing a 4-0 advantage. Trumbo continues to be a gem for the Orioles as he now has a club-leading 17 homers and 42 RBIs in 52 games and has collected plenty of big hits through the first two months of the season.
2nd — Manny Machado provided the decisive three-run homer in the bottom of the seventh after it looked like the Orioles were about to squander a golden opportunity to take the lead in a 5-5 game. With runners at first and second and no outs, Adam Jones and Hyun Soo Kim had both popped out and Red Sox right-hander Junichi Tazawa entered to face the Orioles shortstop. Machado was able to hit the “Earl Weaver special” to give Baltimore an 8-5 lead that would only grow in the next inning.
3rd — Mychal Givens had nothing to do with the Orioles’ seven-homer output, but the right-handed reliever turned in an outstanding performance for a bullpen that needed to rest a couple arms on Thursday. Called upon by Buck Showalter to replace Jimenez with a runner on first and no outs in the sixth after five runs had already scored in the inning, Givens quickly righted the ship for the Orioles with two scoreless frames that included three strikeouts. His work allowed the offense to do its thing.
Home — Adam Jones continues to find success in the leadoff spot as he hit a two-run shot in the fourth and a solo homer in the eighth, his 200th as a member of the Orioles. It was Jones’ first multi-homer game of the season and his three RBIs gave him 367 in his career at Camden Yards, one shy of tying Cal Ripken for first place on the all-time RBI list at the ballpark. … Francisco Pena hit his first major league homer and also singled in his Orioles debut. … The Orioles hit seven home runs in a game for just the fifth time in club history and for the first time since setting a club record with eight against Philadelphia on June 16, 2015. … Jimenez allowed only two batters to reach over five shutout innings before failing to record an out in the sixth and giving up five earned runs. … Brad Brach lowered his season ERA to a tiny 0.91 with a scoreless eighth inning. … Left-hander Brian Duensing made his Orioles debut, giving up two runs on four hits in the ninth inning. … On Friday, Chris Tillman will take the mound for the series opener against the New York Yankees, who will start right-hander Nathan Eovaldi.
