Who stood out in the Orioles’ 6-5 win over the Toronto Blue Jays 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 59th game of the 2016 season.
1st — Chris Davis wasn’t certain to play on Thursday after missing the series finale against Kansas City with unspecified physical ailments a day earlier, but he couldn’t have come up much bigger as he drove in three runs in the come-from-behind win at Rogers Centre. Despite entering the night hitting just .175 against left-handers in 2016, Davis homered to left-center off reliever Aaron Loup to tie the game in the seventh. He then stepped to the plate with the go-ahead run on third and one out in the ninth and hit his second sacrifice fly of the game. Davis also made a leaping catch of a line drive off the bat of Justin Smoak in the third, making it a strong all-around performance for the Orioles slugger.
2nd — Dylan Bundy gave the Orioles what they needed when starter Tyler Wilson was lifted with two outs in the sixth inning of a one-run game. The right-hander pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing one hit and one walk while striking out three to eventually earn the win and keep the rest of the bullpen in good shape entering the weekend. With Darren O’Day currently on the disabled list, manager Buck Showalter needs to use the likes of Brad Brach and Mychal Givens in the later innings, meaning Bundy needs to not only give them innings but to pitch effectively to bridge the gap in some close games. He did exactly that with his 47 pitches to keep the Orioles within striking distance.
3rd — Pedro Alvarez hit his sixth homer of the season with one out in the sixth to end Marcus Stroman’s night after the Toronto starter had retired nine of the previous 10 Baltimore hitters to settle in after a rough beginning. The long ball made it a one-run deficit and put the Orioles in position against a shaky Toronto bullpen to secure their league-best 20th comeback victory of the season.
Home — Zach Britton needed just eight pitches in a perfect ninth inning to secure his 19th save in as many tries, besting Chris Ray’s 18 in 2006 to set a new club record for consecutive save conversions to begin a season. The lefty is on his way to earning a second straight trip to the All-Star Game and is sporting a 1.03 ERA this season. … Hyun Soo Kim’s double to left-center off tough Toronto closer Roberto Osuna to lead off the ninth put the Orioles in position to play small ball to plate the eventual winning run with a Manny Machado grounder and Davis’ sacrifice fly. … It wasn’t a good night for Wilson, but he managed to recover enough to give the Orioles 5 2/3 innings after allowing four runs over the first two innings. … The Orioles have now secured their third winning streak of five or more games this year and improved to a season-best 13 games above .500. … Kevin Gausman takes the hill against Toronto right-hander Marco Estrada on Friday night.
