Orioles get a grand slam from Chris Davis, stop losing streak with 5-1 win vs. Rays

Sometimes a team wins by getting a lot of guys on base and scoring runs one at a time over multiple times. Sometimes a team wins by getting all their runs at once. Tonight was one of those nights.

During the first two innings, both pitchers were on their game. Aside from a Longoria double in the second inning, there were no others hits. Through two, Ramirez threw 18 pitches and Gonzalez pitched 24. It seemed like it was going to be a close game.

But in the thrid inning, the Orioles decided tonight would be their night. Hardy, Schoop, and Lough would all single to load the bases. Chris Davis came up, and even though you wouldn't be blamed for thinking his at-bat would lead to a strikeout, tonight was different. Davis hit the grand slam and out the Orioles up to an early 4-0 lead. It was the kind of thing you didn't think would happen for this team anymore, but tonight it did. Adan Jones would hit a ground rule double after that, but wouldn't come around to score.

The next few innings consisted of a few singles and doubles on both sides, but no more runs and no one really threatened. No, the next action wouldn't come until the top of the 8th inning, when David Lough essentially hit an in the park home run. He hit a line drive down the first base line that rolled into foul territory, which went far enough for it to become a triple. Maybe for a slower guy it would have been a double, because Lough just barely made it into third. But after a bad throw to 3rd base by the Rays, Lough was quick enough to get up and run home. Another time it's hard to believe something good happened for this team, but it did.

The Rays got on the board in bottom of the 8th with a home run by Curt Casali (who?), but that was all the damage they could manage. Gonzalez pitched great, going 7.2 innings, and Chaz Roe came in to finish the game up. Good game, good win. But this team still has a long way to go to get back into a position to contend. Let's see how tomorrow goes.