Down 7-1 heading into the seventh inning, most Orioles fans decided to turn the game off and head to the dinner table. However, Baltimore’s offense was able to score seven runs in the final three innings of the ballgame to pick up an 8-7 win over the San Francisco Giants.
Jonathan Schoop’s go-ahead three-run home run was the knockout punch delivered by the Orioles. With two outs, Schoop delivered the long-shot to left-center field for his 18th homer of the season.
“It feels amazing,” Schoop said after the game. “I’m not an emotional guy, but I showed emotion there, especially to get away with a win and [have] a happy flight home.”
Following the home run, Schoop and Manny Machado had a very colorful celebration that can be seen in the tweet below:
The heroics by the 24-year-old second basemen gave the Orioles their first lead of the ballgame, and the Giants were unable to answer in the bottom of the ninth inning. Closer Zach Britton earned his 37th save of the season, and the Orioles left the west coast full of smiles after possibly their biggest win of 2016.
“Our guys wanted it,” manager Buck Showalter said following the comeback win. “[We] gave ourselves a chance. Trumbo had a big walk. I thought [Brach] came back well and Donnie Hart showed himself well again. Our guys just refuse to give in.”
The rally got started in the seventh inning when Matt Wieters, who went 5-for-5 in the game, doubled with no outs. After a J.J. Hardy pop-out that advanced Wieters to third, Pedro Alvarez walked. Adam Jones then hit a sacrifice fly that gave the Orioles their second run. Hyun-Soo Kim was next, hitting a double that scored Alvarez.
Following Kim’s double, San Francisco starter Johnny Cueto was replaced by Hunter Strickland. Before the seventh inning, Cueto had allowed one run on six hits, a walk and four strikeouts.
In the eighth inning, Mark Trumbo hit his MLB-leading 34th home run; a solo shot to left field. This was followed with singles from Schoop and Wieters and then Derek Law came into the game to relieve Strickland. The first batter Law faced was Hardy, who singled to right field to score Schoop.
The Orioles picked up their first run in the fifth inning when Adam Jones singled to score Wieters.
The fact that Baltimore was able to mount the six-run comeback showed that the offense can be resilient and climb back into a ballgame on the road. It is no secret that the Oakland series was probably the Orioles’ lowest point of the season so far. Baltimore dropped three out of four to a fourth-place A’s team. In the first three games of that series, Baltimore scored just three runs altogether, including a three-hit offensive performance in Tuesday’s 2-1 loss.
After 9-6 and 5-2 wins, it looked like the Orioles offense was getting shut down again, as Madison Bumgarner pitched seven shutout innings against them on Saturday night. On Sunday afternoon, Baltimore battled back after scoring just one run in the first six innings of the game.
The road woes have been well documented for the Orioles this season, but Baltimore ended this trip going 5-5 and being only a half-game behind the first-place Toronto Blue Jays in the American League East. Yes, the series loss to Oakland stung, but the Orioles deserve credit for being able to win two out of three against a first-place National League team in the Giants.
The Orioles accomplished this in spite of shaky starts from Dylan Bundy, Kevin Gausman and Wade Miley. Bundy allowed just one run in 5.2 innings pitched, but had command issues. Gausman went only four innings on Saturday night and walked six, and the Orioles finished the game with a season-high nine walks altogether. Miley lasted just 4.1 innings on Sunday, and allowed seven earned runs on eight hits, two walks and a strikeout.
After 10 days away from Baltimore, the Orioles will return home for an eight-game home-stand at Camden Yards starting on Tuesday.
The first series will be a two-game bout with the Boston Red Sox, who are two games out of first place in the AL East. Boston defeated Arizona 16-2 on Sunday. On Thursday the Houston Astros come to town for a four-game series, and on Monday Aug. 22 the Orioles will begin a four-game series against the Washington Nationals. The first two games of that series will take place in Baltimore, and the last two will take place in D.C.
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