Manny Machado Becomes The Third Player Ever To Homer To The Second Deck At Camden Yards
Gooooood lord did Manny Machado get that one last night. An estimated 465 feet for Machado’s 11th homer of the year, and the first ball hit to the second deck in Camden Yards since Mark Reynolds in 2011, and just the third ball ever to reach that second deck. Clearing the entire lower section at Camden Yards isn’t an easy task, but that swing was a vintage Manny swing, you knew it was over 450 the second he hit it, Rick Porcello knew it too. Was nice to see Manny hit a missile like that, especially with his struggles that I wrote about yesterday.
Seth Smith got the O’s on the board first with a leadoff homer off Porcello, coupled with the ball that Manny almost hit to the aquarium, staked the Orioles to an early 2-0 lead. A Hyun-Soo Kim double that drove in Jonathan Schoop later in the game put the O’s up 3-1, and that would be enough offense for the Birds to pull out another win against the Sox. Boston got their runs from a Pablo Sandoval solo shot that snuck over the fence, and a Jackie Bradley Jr single that scored Xander Bogaerts. Brad Brach made quick work of the Sox in the ninth to secure the win for the O’s, 3-2.
O’s have now won 3 in a row to bring their record to 29-24, and with the win last night catapulted the Orioles over the Red Sox into second place in the division, couple that with the Yankees loss in Toronto, Baltimore is only 2.5 games back now. Like I said yesterday, once that calendar flips to June, the ball starts flying in Baltimore, and the team starts to roll.
Alec Asher straight up shoved last night, just embarrassed the Red Sox offense. I don’t think any Red Sox fans even knew who Asher was, but then he retired 16 of the first 17 guys he faced. Asher’s did the damn thing, going 6 1/3 innings with three hits, five Ks, two runs, and zero walks. IDC if this lineup doesn’t have Dustin Pedroia, the fact that Asher absolutely shut these guys down was huge. He didn’t look like the same guy who got skull dragged by the Astros in his last start (2 IP, six runs, one K). Back-to-back-to-back good starts from Kevin Gausman, Wade Miley, and now Asher, these guys have stepped up in the games they needed to win and has also helped rest the bullpen that was taxed.
Today’s game is a Dylan Bundy – David Price showdown, and gives the Orioles a chance to get the series before they have to see Chris Sale on Sunday. David Price is a mental midget. Always has been, always will be. O’s should be able to beat him up pretty good and get the win. Book it.
PS. An LOL funny tweet from Os beat writer, Roch Kubatko.
PPS. Some absolute savages hitting some of the most impressive dabs I’ve ever seen. My man in the blue with the rarely seen hammer dab. Very impressive boys.