With the Orioles rallying to beat the New York Yankees in a 5-4 final to win their fourth straight to start the season, I’ve offered a dozen thoughts, each in 50 words or less:
1. The home run is their calling card, but the Orioles used some unlikely small ball to win Saturday’s game as Mark Trumbo stole second base off Dellin Betances before Hyun Soo Kim delivered the eventual game-winning RBI single on the next pitch. Go figure.
2. It hasn’t always looked easy, but the Orioles bullpen delivered 4 1/3 shutout innings to add to their season total of 16 2/3 scoreless frames over the first four games. Buck Showalter has taken advantage of two off-days to use Zach Britton and Brad Brach in every contest.
3. After being called out on a borderline third strike with the bases loaded in the fifth, Kim showed impressive poise in his encounter with Betances to work a full count before picking up his third hit of the night to give Baltimore the lead.
4. Trumbo also had a great at-bat against Betances as he stayed back on his slow breaking ball to line an RBI single into left after being late on his mid-90s fastball on the previous pitch. You don’t see that success often against the Yankees reliever.
5. His teammates picked him up, but Kevin Gausman having command problems for the second straight start is a little disconcerting since he’s rarely had issues with walks in the past. He couldn’t locate his fastball and has walked seven in his first 10 innings of work.
6. There was debate over Gausman’s balk that plated the third New York run, but you’d really prefer his focus to be on retiring Starlin Castro with two outs in the fifth inning instead of worrying about catcher Austin Romine running at third base.
7. It was a bummer seeing young Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez leave the game with a right biceps injury. He’s going to the disabled list, but you hope it’s nothing serious for such a talented young player.
8. J.J. Hardy left the bases loaded in the fourth inning and is just 1-for-13 with an infield single to begin the season. It’s obviously early, but you’d like to see him hitting the ball with more authority on the heels of the back problem that disrupted his spring.
9. He made up for it with an RBI single and a walk later in the game, but Welington Castillo had a rough second inning as he failed to get a tag down on Aaron Hicks at the plate and committed a throwing error on a stolen base attempt. He then struck out in the bottom half of the frame.
10. The Orioles had their share of poor at-bats in Saturday’s contest, but Yankees shortstop Ronald Torreyes swinging at the first pitch to pop out to end the top of the eighth after Brach had issued back-to-back walks was cringeworthy.
11. His baserunning has never been a strength, but Manny Machado stole second base prior to Castillo’s RBI single in the fourth. This came after he didn’t steal any last year and stole 20 in 2015. After stealing only 19 bases last year, the Orioles had two on Saturday.
12. I’ll never get tired of seeing the alternate orange jerseys for Saturday games. It’s one of the best looks in all of baseball.
