They are on top of the AL East this season, and are already being picked to win the AL East above their division rivals.
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Seattle has lost four of five and the Mariners are now three games off the wildcard spots.
With the magic number to win the division down to eight games, the Red Sox need only to leave the foot on the gas, keep the regulars as healthy as possible and figure out who the No.3 and No. 4 starters are going to be in the playoffs behind Rick Porcello and David Price. Those are key. When you succeed in those, that’s a snowball effect that takes place. “To balance that out, no one is taking any of that for granted”.
Facing the highest-scoring team in the majors, Baltimore got only six hits against Eduardo Rodriguez (3-7) and four relievers.
Rodriguez allowed two runs on four hits in 6 1/3 innings.
“This was really huge”, Bradley said.
The running joke inside the Orioles clubhouse is that the team should present Ortiz with a bronzed bullpen phone as his retirement farewell tour hits Baltimore this week. “To get two wins right away is very vital for us”. The O’s also still need to further cement their position at the top of the Wild Card standings, where they are now one game up for the top Wild Card berth, and also three games ahead of the Detroit Tigers and Seattle Mariners, who are the next-closest competitors for those two desired paths to the annual play-in game. He became the third Orioles player to homer in his first game, following Larry Haney in 1966 and Jonathan Schoop in 2013.
ROYALS 8, WHITE SOX 3: Yordano Ventura pitched a complete game, Kendrys Morales hit a three-run homer and host Kansas City won its third straight, keeping its faint playoff hopes flickering with 12 games left. Five days earlier against Baltimore, the right-hander gave up one run in eight innings but took the loss. The blast was the 36th of the season for Ortiz, giving him the most home runs ever in a player’s final season. His best game in a Delmarva uniform came on May 16, 2014 in Kannapolis where he went three-for-four at the plate against the Intimidators and tallied two runs-scored and an RBI.
“I’ll try to hit a couple more so nobody can reach me”, Ortiz said.
“Yeah, man, it’s just super nice”. He passed away four years ago, so I just found that out the other day that today would’ve been his birthday. I don’t care about personal numbers. “I care about winning”. Xander Bogaerts singled with one out and two batters later Betts homered to left on an 0-2 pitch from Bundy. He needed just 89 pitches, which are the fewest by anyone in a nine-inning complete game this season.
It does not seem to matter who they turn to, the Giants appear simply incapable of closing a game in the ninth inning.
It’s a tough thing to ask a pitcher to be great against the Red Sox two times in the span of a week. One out later, Ortiz hit a 1-2 pitch far over the center-field wall.
“Well, trust me, we know what we have in Rodriguez, too”, Ortiz said. Mancini delivered the homer in his second at-bat, pulling the Orioles to within 2-1 in the fifth. LHP Wade Miley threw Monday and is feeling much better after leaving Sunday’s start with a strained muscle in his back, manager Buck Showalter said.
Mancini said his family is coming to Baltimore this weekend for the Orioles’ series against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Farrell said OF Andrew Benintendi has been cleared to play in back-to-back games. “I like it”, he said, “especially when it’s warm like it is”.
Mancini was added to the roster on Sunday when it was announced that Steve Pearce – who the Orioles traded for on August 1 – would be done for the season with an arm injury.
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Tigers: The likelihood of 3B Nick Castellanos (broken hand) returning this season has lessened, after feeling discomfort on some swings during batting practice on Monday at the minor league complex in Lakeland, Florida.
