Six games are all that is left in the 2021 season for the Baltimore Orioles, three in Baltimore against the Boston Red Sox followed by three in Toronto against the Blue Jays. The Birds can still influence the American League Wild Card race, the question being will they break some hearts as a spoiler? With Boston holding the second WC spot and Toronto just one game out, the Orioles could possibly spoil both fan bases by propelling either the Seattle Mariners (2.0 GB) or the Oakland A’s (3.0 GB) into a wild card spot with wins against their end of season opponents.
Sunday was not only the end of the last weekend in Baltimore, it was also the end of Fan Appreciation Weekend. It all ended in a 7-4 loss to the Texas Rangers.
Four hits, two being two-run homeruns, were the extent of the Baltimore offense. Anthony Santander (1 for 4, 1 Run Scored, 2 RBI) hit his 18th homerun of 2021 in the second inning with Austin Hays (0 for 3, 1 Run Scored, 1 BB) on base. Pedro Severino (1 for 2, 1 Run Scored, 2 RBI, 2 BB) hoped to rally the team with his 11th homerun of the season with no outs in the 9th inning and Trey Mancini (1 for 4, 1 Run Scored) on base.
For the record, Kelvin Gutierrez (1 for 4) also had one of the Orioles hits.
John Means took to the mound for the Orioles and didn’t fare so well in his final OPACY start of 2021. He allowed 3 runs on 7 hits, including an Andy Ibanez two-run homerun, while striking out 8 over 5.0 innings. Means took the loss and is now 6-8 for the year.
Thomas Eshelman (1.0 IP, 1 K) pitched a clean 9th inning of relief but the same cannot be said of the the three relievers between him and Means.
Eric Hanhold (1.1 IP, 1 R, 2 H, 1 K), Conner Greene (0.2 IP, 2 R, 1 H, 1 BB) and Fernando Abad (1.0 IP, 1 R, 2 H) each allowed the Rangers to add to their run total.
On second thought, it will take more than four hits in a game to play the spoiler. Hopefully the O’s have it in them.
2021 Record: 50-106
Next Game: Tues. Sept. 28 @ 7:05pm
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