Orioles clung on to their teeth for a 5-4 win and series victory against the Phillies

With two outs at the bottom of the ninth inning, the Orioles clung to a one-run lead, and yesterday’s top scorer, Cole Sulser, tried to rule out the game, observing Orioles broadcaster Scott Garceau, “Must- watch TV, these Orioles. ”Ben McDonald put it better:“ Makes the hair out of your head. ”This one was a nail-biter who did the Orioles just enough to win. Against a Phillies lineup, armed with great carpenter and a home plate shot that should have something against the city of Baltimore, the Orioles scored a series victory against Philadelphia with clutch, some brilliant defensive plays, and a stupid long walk through the bullpen.

After Tuesday’s alternate epic of the game, I was ready for a good, clean pitcher duel. Wade LeBlanc was not the white knight I was hoping for, but things could have been worse.

After running out of the first, LeBlanc lost his sense of fastball in the second, just as the Orioles lost to the art of playing defense. With two outs and a man at first, LeBlanc left a change right across the plate for Andrew Knapp, who tagged it right at Dwight Smith Jr. in left. That cow were the end of the inning, except that the Orioles’ left fielder broke backwards, stumbled a few steps forward, and then let the ball bounce under his hand and roll to the wall, allowing a run to score. Next up, the fast-paced Roman Quinn smashed a ball right at Chris Davis, who choked it, but with no one defeating the base, Quinn took first. It got an error about Davis, which I found unfair, especially as what DSJ in the left did not count as one.

The third inning got even louder, though not all it was LeBlanc’s fault. Rarely are disagreements with a creator more than an isolated grumble here or there, but hometown referee Ramón De Jesus had one of the worst nights of umpiring I have seen. Here, in graphic form, please observe a leadoff walk presumably issued by LeBlanc:

Brandon Hyde took off his mask and began clawing at the ump, and veteran LeBlanc was visibly abused. Even the powerful Ben McDonald admitted, “Jesus has no good night at all.” The ‘walk’ was followed by a beauty from a bunch of Bryce Harper (from ferrin Bryce Harper is a good bunter), an RBI single in center, and a sound bag fly just sorry for a dinner. It was 3-1 Phillies, and the game felt like it was getting out of hand.

However, the score was somehow tied 3-3 after four innings. It made no sense to consider how vulnerable LeBlanc looked, and how an impressive Zach Eflin Orioles hitters turned all over the place. Eflin grabbed ten K’s over six innings – including a former Silver Sombrero for Hanser Alberto – yet the Birds somehow managed to beat him for four runs on seven hits.

The Birds clawed one back in the third when Anthony Santander kicked a breaking ball into the right corner. The umps initially called it a foul, but helpful, ball that made a pile of noise in an empty stadium a nice loud “ping”, and the call was reversed. Santandong!

In the fourth, with Núñez and DSJ on second and third and none out, Austin Hays and Chris Davis hit back-to-back. (The pair went 1-for-8 last night with 7 K’s, sorry to say.) While I was cursing the TV, Chance Sisco cut a smooth single the other way Noonie and DSJ scored and tied things at 3.

After LeBlanc’s frustrating night ended halfway through the fourth, the midfielders had a many of innings to eat. Shawn Armstrong rushed to the rescue. He got a tailormade double play in the fourth before freezing Bryce Harper with a beautiful breaking ball and getting the dangerous JT Realmuto that swung through a heater in the fifth. Travis Lakins was also directly engaged last night, hitting the side in the sixth with a heap of sharply broken things. (Problem in Philly with the curve, mind you.)

By that point, the Orioles were 4-3 up, their first lead of the game, thanks to a stunning Rio Ruiz explosion sending heaps into the midfield bleachers.

The announcers kept saying that the Orioles had to survive Eflin and go after the Phillies’ bullpen. That, therefore, they make the big money. The Phillies’ first striker, Adam Morgan, was chance Sisco, who absolutely flicked a shift to the right. More beautiful than the home game of Rio Ruiz? You will be the judge.

Closing this evidence proved to be regrettable. Mychal Givens, now in a set-up role, escaped the seventh clean, but it took the third double play that Ruiz started on the night. Miguel Castro turned an even more back-to-back eighth, allowing three singles to make it 5-4, by mixing the characters with Sisco, and juuust coming out of trouble with a K and one of the craziest second-hand put-outs I’ve seen in a while. Jim Palmer just mentioned it “the play of the year. ”

Last night, Cole Sulser blew a two-time lead in the ninth, but last night he rewarded Brandon Hyde’s confidence in him with a three-up, three-to-ninth. Decently, after all the shenanigans on home plate, it stood on one extreme delayed strike-three call from Ramon de Jesus that the game ended. Ball game!