As endings to baseball games go, it doesn’t get much more thrilling than a play at the plate. There is ever-building tension as the play unfolds and the realization hits that this is going to be for all of the marbles.
The Orioles, as you know if you were watching or listening to last night’s game, experienced one of those plays for themselves last night.
With the tying run already on first base and elite closer Zach Britton on the mound, Tampa Bay’s Alexei Ramirez ripped a line drive over a leaping Manny Machado that was headed for the left field corner. The runner on first, Mikie Mahtook, was full speed ahead on contact with two outs.
Watch the beauty of this play unfold as called by both MASN’s Jim Hunter and Orioles radio broadcaster Joe Angel, both of whom were, it’s safe to say, appropriately in the mood for the moment before them, one with serious potential playoff implications for the Orioles:
They got him! They got him! They got him! They got him at the plate!
Yes, Joe, they sure did. And it was great. The Orioles were, indeed, in the win column. Here's hoping they can find their way there later tonight. Although if they would like to go ahead and have the game secured long before a final play at the plate to decide it all, that would be preferable, if not quite as exciting. My heart has already had enough for this series.