All aspects of old fashioned Orioles baseball were on display Friday night in their 9-1 victory over the Minneosta Twins. Miguel Gonzalez threw an absolute gem, Steve Pearce and Jonathan Schoop both flashed the leather and Chris Davis and Delmon Young went deep.
Let’s start with Miguel Gonzalez, who threw seven innings, gave up just one run and struck out six. He started strong and cruised until Trevor Plouffe homered to end the shutout bid in the seventh inning.
Defensively, the Birds were great as always. In the first inning Pearce made a fantastic leaping catch at the wall along the first base side. Unfortunately, he would have to come out due to a right abdominal sprain.
Later in the game, Jonathan Schoop made a great running snow cone style catch in right field.
At the plate, Chris Davis hit his second grand slam of the season. Although not the Weaver classic “three run homer”, I think Earl would have been happy with a grand slam. Delmon Young followed a few innings later with a two run homer that would eventually be upheld by instant replay.
The Orioles will be able to make a deep run into October if they continue playing baseball the way the Earl of Baltimore dreamed it.
