The Orioles Pounded Out 11 Runs And Embarrassed The Red Sox On Their Way To An Opening Weekend Sweep In Boston
Can you have a better Opening Weekend than the Orioles did? Doubt it. They got their heart and soul back in Trey Mancini, they came up with clutch hitting, historic starts, solid bullpen performances and all of that combined equaled an Opening Weekend sweep of the supposed to win 89 games Boston Red Sox. The first two games of the series were close nail biters, John Means and Matt Harvey did the damn thing to limit the Sox, but Sunday was just a bloodbath. Orioles put up 3 in the first, and 7 in the third, and one in the ninth and that was all she wrote. Nothing gets your Sunday funday going better than a casual 10-0 lead before the fourth.
Boston was dead in the water before they had even taken an at-bat, they didn't want to be there. They were already thinking about Easter dinner and what they were gonna put on their plate. Meanwhile the Orioles smelled blood and went for it. Garrett Richards probably should have stayed in bed today because he did not have it. 7 hits, 6 ER, 2 walks, and 2 Ks. Nice little 2 inning start in your season debut. Josh Taylor came in and got rung up for another 4. Lots of high ERAs in that Boston rotation, lots. And the Orioles weren't really crushing the ball, didn't hit 1 home run this series, they just had some flat out good hits.
I said on Thursday I thought this team would be able to hit, pitching would be the problem. Well I know it's a tiny sample size but it looks like I was wrong because the O's pitching has been fantastic too. This is a Boston lineup that isn't as bad as what we saw this weekend, they can hit. J.D. Martinez was the only guy who resembled a baseball player in the Boston lineup, but hard to win when you have literally one guy hitting.
Bruce Zimmermann was great for the Birds today. Flat out fantastic. This is a young guy who made his MLB debut last year, but this was his first start with fans in the stands, who knew what that would do to him. Well it didn't phase him at all. 6 innings, 4 hits, 3 runs, 1 walk, 5 Ks. Can't ask for much more than that. From there it was a bullpen game where the guys came in to get their arms warm.
Some of the other Os who had nice performances on Easter? Well Cedric Mullins got on base 6 times so thats decent. 5-5 with a walk, 3 doubles 2 singles, 3 runs scored and he became the first player in Orioles history to get 4 hits in the first 4 innings. Mancini had 2 hits and drove in 2, Anthony Santander had 3 hits and drove in 2, Ryan Mountcastle had a hit, an RBI, and 2 walks, Rio Ruiz had 2 hits, I mean this lineup had it going today. 11 runs on 17 hits will usually get the job done, especially when your pitching staff only gives up 6 hits and strikes out 8. Orioles are now 10-6 vs the Sox in their last 16 games, not too shabby at all. But again this was a ball club that finished dead last in the AL East last season, so its kind of sad the Orioles keep beating up on the little brother.
First place, headed to New York where the Yankees lost 2 of 3, wont be easy but hey, this is house money. Go out there, keep raking, hit some bombs in that tiny ballpark and lets get some wins. Man oh man do I love sweeps in Fenway.