Sunday Bird Droppings: The comeback Orioles have done it yet again

Hello, friends.

The Orioles! These crazy characters have done it again. Yesterday saw them pull off an eighth-inning comeback fueled by a Ryan O’Hearn game-tying home run - really! Ryan O’Hearn! - and then they got the go-ahead run in extra innings when three-time Gold Glover Matt Chapman chucked a throw home into the runner, Ryan Mountcastle, allowing him to score. When it was done with, they were on top. Check out John Beers’s recap of the game for the lovely totals.

With Saturday’s win, the Orioles are 30-16 on the season. I know, it’s wild! They did not gain any ground on the Rays, of course, because the Rays, like seemingly every other AL East team every game where they aren’t playing another AL East team, were winners on Saturday. The Rays took an 8-4 game over the Brewers, leaving the O’s 3.5 games back. The Orioles, if you can believe it, are on a 106-win pace through 28.4% of the season.

Improbably, the Orioles have a chance to go for a sweep on Sunday afternoon. This was always going to be the toughest game of the series, with Kevin Gausman set to pitch for them. Gausman has been great already this year and by his FIP he should maybe be even greater. He’s struck out 77 batters in 55 innings, which I think will be a problem for Orioles batters.

Maybe Dean Kremer will do enough to make it interesting. The final game of the series is scheduled for a 1:37 first pitch.

Around the blogO’sphere

Adley Rutschman reflects on his first year in the majors (The Baltimore Banner)
All in all, I’d have to say it’s been pretty awesome for Rutschman and for the Orioles too.

How a job in retail ignited Bryan Baker’s life (The Baltimore Sun)
Baker was at the Blue Jays alternate site in 2020 and they sent him home, so he had to get a job at Target. Now he’s in his second full big league season. Has to feel good.

What the young Orioles hitters still need to learn (Baltimore Baseball)
Peter Schmuck’s opinion is that the Orioles hitters need to recognize when it’s the pitcher who’s under pressure, not the hitter.

Also, nobody seems to have written an article specifically about it, but Colton Cowser was placed on the Triple-A injured list yesterday to rest a sore quad that had him out of the lineup for a couple of days. So everyone who wanted to see Cowser with the Orioles like, tomorrow, is going to have to cool their jets a little bit. Or perhaps transfer those feelings towards Jordan Westburg instead.

Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries

The most recent Orioles victory on this date came five years ago. The 2018 O’s beat the White Sox, 3-2, despite being out-hit 10-5 in the game. Manny Machado, Mark Trumbo, and Adam Jones all homered to make the difference for the O’s to “improve” to 15-32.

There are a number of former Orioles who were born on this day. They are: 2016-19 outfielder Joey Rickard, 2009-16 catcher Matt Wieters, 2014 reliever Andrew Miller, 1999 five-gamer Tommy Davis, 2006 nine-game catcher Chris Widger, and 1979 eight-game outfielder Bob Molinaro. Today is Molinaro’s 73rd birthday, so an extra happy birthday to him.

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! In addition to those former Orioles, your birthday buddies for today include: volcanologist Giuseppe Mercalli (1850), jazz pianist Fats Waller (1904), baseball Hall of Famer Bobby Cox (1941), actor Mr. T (1952), rapper The Notorious B.I.G. (1972), and cyclist Mark Cavendish (1985).

On this day in history...

In 1856, the town of Lawrence, Kansas was attacked and burned by a pro-slavery militia looking to intimidate the territory into being admitted as a slave state.

In 1881, Clara Barton founded the American Red Cross.

In 1927, Charles Lindbergh landed in Paris to complete the first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean. Exactly five years later, Amelia Earhart became the first woman to complete the same feat, though her flight ended in an unscheduled landing in a pasture in Northern Ireland.

**

And that’s the way it is in Birdland on May 21. Have a safe Sunday. Go O’s!