On a Friday night in Camden Yards, the bats were on fire as the Baltimore Orioles beat the Boston Red Sox 15-10. This game offered plenty of entertainment and featured some uncommon occurrences. As usual a matchup between two American League East teams created a spectacular highlight reel. Here is a breakdown of some of the biggest storylines.
Always Responding
After both teams failed to score in the first inning they started the scoring barrage in the second inning.
In the top of the second, the Red Sox put up the first runs of the game. With two on and two out Enrique Hernandez hit a two-run double to put the Red Sox up 2-0.
Despite being down early, the Orioles responded quickly. In the bottom half of the second, the Orioles had two on with two out as well. Jorge Mateo came up clutch with a three-run homer to put the O’s up 3-2.
The third inning had a bit of a deja vu feeling.
In the top half of the inning, the Red Sox scored two runs, this time on a ground-out and single. This helped them retake the lead at 4-3.
In the bottom half of the third, the O’s responded again with three runs. These came on a two-run home run from Anthony Santander and then a sacrifice fly. Just as quickly as they lost the lead they got it right back at 6-4.
Breakaway Blasts
In the top half of the fourth, the Red Sox were kept off the board. It appeared like the O’s offense would also get stifled in the bottom of the fourth. The first two Orioles hitters were quickly retired, but Cedric Mullins kept the inning alive with a double.
After the O’s scored five of their first six runs on home runs they continued that trend in the bottom of the fourth. Following the Mullins double, rookie Adley Rutschman whacked a two-run homer.
To Continue the inning, Santander followed with a single. This brought up Ryan Mountcastle who blistered a ball into the O’s bullpen for yet another two-run homer.
The Orioles were able to push their jump ahead to a sizeable 10-4 lead.
Fives in the Fifth
Red Sox
Even though it seemed like the Red Sox were too far behind they silenced those thoughts. They went from no offense in the fourth to nothing but offense in the fifth.
This inning featured the Red Sox catching every break possible. It started off with Rafael Devers reaching on an error. Then they recorded back-to-back singles including an RBI single from Eric Hosmer. The next three batters featured two strikeouts and a catcher’s interference.
The O’s had a chance to get out of the inning after only allowing one run, but the Red Sox still had the bases loaded with two outs. Tommy Pham ripped the first pitch to the wall for a bases-clearing double and Alex Verdugo drove him in two pitches later.
These two hits suddenly made it only a 10-9 lead for the O’s.
Just when it seemed as though the Orioles had this game locked away the Red Sox brought it within one. Unfortunately for the Red Sox, their pitching failed to keep it close.
Orioles
Ramon Urias led off the bottom of the fifth by demolishing a pitch to center field for a lead-off homer. This gave the Orioles their fifth homer of the game.
Four batters later Santander stepped to the plate with one out and runners on second and third. Adding to an already great game he ripped a ball into the right field gap for a two-run ground rule double. The very next batter was Mountcastle who brought home another run on a single.
Then as if things were not going well enough, Austin Hays got a wild hit. Hays hit a weak grounder up the middle for what looked like a possible groundout. Instead, it just snuck past the middle infielders for one of the shortest RBI doubles seen all season.
Directly after the Red Sox scored five the O’s scored five of their own to push the lead to 15-9.
A Quiet Finish
Between the second and fifth innings, the two teams scored 24 runs on 32 hits.
It appeared this trend might continue as the Red Sox put up one run in the top of the sixth. Sadly though, this RBI single by Reese Maguire ended up being the last time a run would cross the plate for either team.
Both bullpens finally did some good work in the latter half of the game. In the final six-half innings, the two offenses combined for six base runners from one hit by pitch, two walks and three hits.
Wildly, the bottom of the seventh was the only half inning that featured a perfect three-up three-down pitching performance.
A Stacked Box Score
Orioles
Every player in the O’s lineup got at least one hit and scored at least one run except for Rougned Odor. Nevertheless, he did still record an RBI. The only players to not record an RBI was Mullins and Kyle Stowers.
Four different Orioles hitters recorded multiple RBIs, five scored multiple runs and seven racked up multiple hits.
The O’s hitters to highlight are Rutschman who went 3-5 with two RBIs and three runs scored. Right behind him was Santander who went 3-5 with a team-high four RBIs and three runs scored. They both came up a triple shy of the cycle.
Red Sox
It was a similar situation for the Red Sox. Every starter had at least one hit except for Devers who went 0-5 with seven left on base. The only starter to not score a run was Hernandez. The only two to not get an RBI was Xander Bogaerts and Devers.
Six different hitters recorded multiple hits and only two hitters recorded multiple RBIs and runs scored.
The Red Sox had plenty of opportunities to do damage as they had a game-high 19 hits. Unfortunately, they only went 7-19 with runners in scoring position and left 11 men on base.
Rare Occurrences
With what occurred for both offenses in this game it is only right they did some things that have not happened too often.
It was the ninth time across MLB this season that both teams scored double digits. The 25 combined runs is tied with three other games for the most.
It was also the third time this season that the O’s put up double digits on the Red Sox. The last season they accomplished that was 2004, they did it four times that year.
The last time the O’s scored 15 or more on the Red Sox in Baltimore was on April 26, 2015 when the O’s won 18-7.
Red Sox
The starting pitcher for the Red Sox had a rough outing. In only 3.2 innings, Kutter Crawford allowed nine runs on 11 hits. Surprisingly, it has not been long since one of their starters has given up this many runs. Nathan Eovaldi allowed nine runs on July 22 when they lost 28-5 to the Toronto Blue Jays.
What is not rare is how many times a team has scored double digits against the pitching staff of the Red Sox. This is the 10th time it has happened this season. The last season they allowed this many through 120 games was 2019.
Orioles
This marked their seventh time scoring double digits this season. The 15 runs are a season high in runs, their previous high was 12 against the Red Sox on May 27. It is their most in a game since they beat the then Cleveland Indians 18-5 on June 6, 2021.
They also put up big power numbers in this game. It had been since June 11 that they last mashed five homers in one game. They put up five in a 9-3 victory over the Chicago Cubs.
The O’s bats racked up 11 extra-base hits which is tied for the second most in franchise history (12). The last time they had 11 was August 16, 2015, against the Oakland Athletics in an 18-2 victory.
Additionally, they scored all 15 runs in only four innings. The last time they accomplished this was exactly 16 years ago on August 19, 2006, when they beat the Blue Jays 15-0.
The Baltimore Orioles have been playing very solid baseball in the last couple of months. They are well in the hunt for one of the coveted American League wild-card spots. This was a signature win for them because they showed that even when their pitching struggles they know how to score runs. This was a great game and they need to keep the momentum going.
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