Orioles offense erupts in 17-1 win over Rays

Everyone knows that the number of runs scored on Mother’s Day equates to how much that team’s players love their moms. Apparently, the Orioles love their moms a whole lot while the Rays still aren’t talking to theirs because of that one time they kissed them in front of their friends when they were eight years old. Totally uncool.

Baltimore made up for all those times they left Dylan Bundy hung out to dry with little or no run support in a big way on Sunday. Every starter in the O’s offense had at least one hit and nearly all of them added a run and RBI apiece. It was total team domination as the Orioles crushed the Rays 17-1 at Camden Yards, taking three of four in the weekend series against the AL East rivals.

That’s a lot of runs! We won’t spend too much time on any one aspect of the offense, but let’s get started.

The scoring began in the bottom of the second inning. Danny Valencia and Joey Rickard hit back-to-back solo home runs to kick off the frame. Trey Mancini added a third one-run shot later in that same inning to make it 3-0 for the good guys.

Poor defense from Tampa in the third inning plated a fourth run for Baltimore. Valencia grounded to third baseman Matt Duffy with runners on the corners. Duffy never really got his fingers on the ball, but tried to start the double play at second base anyway. Instead, he mailed it into right field, scoring Manny Machado from third.

In the fourth inning, eight straight Orioles reached base via walks, singles, doubles and Rickard’s second long ball of the day. When it was all said and done, the O’s plated seven runs to lead 11-0 and booted both the starter Blake Snell and reliever Andrew Kittredge out of the ball game.

Kittredge had an especially tough day. He faced seven batters without recording an out and allowing six runs on six hits and a walk. His season ERA jumped from 6.48 to 9.72. Snell was only a touch better. He threw 3.1 innings, but gave up five runs on six hits, two walks and three strikeouts.

Austin Pruitt came in to clean up the mess, and he did well to silence the O’s offense for a while, but things fell apart again in the seventh inning. Caleb Joseph led off with a triple and came into score on a Trey Mancini ground out. That was just the beginning of the trouble. Jace Peterson walked and scored on a Machado double. A Mark Trumbo single later on gave the Birds runners on the corners with two outs.

Although outfielder Johnny Field was warming in the bullpen, manager Kevin Cash opted to stick with actual pitchers. This was a poor decision. Former Oriole Chaz Roe came on in relief and proceeded to get hit around. Valencia and Rickard delivered back-to-back singles to score two more runs. A Roe wild pitch moved them both to third and second respectively. Craig Gentry put the finishing touches on the afternoon with a double down the right field line to score two runs and make it 17-0 at the time.

Meanwhile, Bundy got back to his dominating form that we were used to seeing earlier in the season. The righty put together seven scoreless innings while allowing just two hits and four walks with seven strikeouts. The closest Tampa got to scoring against the O’s starter was with a leadoff double in the sixth inning, but the runner wound up stranded at third base. Other than that, it was a pretty worry-free afternoon.

The Rays only run came home off of Donnie Hart in the eighth inning. Rod Refsnyder led off with a double and came in to score on a Denard Span single to left field. From there, Hart retired the next three batters to finish his inning of work. Mike Wright Jr. came on to pitch in the ninth inning. He allowed two base runners but closed out the game with a double play that started with first baseman Caleb Joseph and then went to shortstop Jonathan Schoop and finished back with Wright covering first. Yeah, things were a little wild at the end.

Tampa’s Field did come on to make his first major league pitching appearance. He was the only Rays hurler to not allow a run. He threw a scoreless eighth inning with one walk, no hits and no strikeouts. That deserves a golf clap.

It’s not exactly surprising that this team is, all of the sudden, playing really well. The return of Schoop and Trumbo to the lineup makes them a much better team. On top of that, the rotation has been improved over the last week or so as well. It would be more exciting if these guys hadn’t been SO bad to begin the season. Even still, winning is always more fun. Keep it up, boys!

The Orioles have an off day on Monday before starting a two-game series with the Phillies at Camden Yards on Tuesday. Andrew Cashner (1-4, 4.84 ERA) is set to get the start for the O’s, but Philly has not yet announced who will take the ball for them.