Orioles beat Rays, 5-1, Sunday to earn their first sweep in nearly two years
BALTIMORE — When the Orioles last swept a series, at the end of August 2018, it seemed that competitive baseball in what normally counts as baseball’s dog days might never come back.
Two years of abundant losing since make it hard to believe this Orioles team, which just swept the Tampa Bay Rays over three games at Camden Yards thanks to a 5-1 win Sunday, is going to change that ahead of schedule.
But the way the Orioles (5-3) are playing in the first week-plus of their season, with the coronavirus pandemic serving as an ominous background to the proceedings, at least make it tempting to think otherwise.
That optimism comes from the idea that this is not the kind of game the Orioles often win. Renato Núñez’s second home run in as many days gave them a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Tommy Milone, over a week after his disappointing Opening Day start, rebounded to strike out eight in five scoreless innings before allowing a game-tying home run on the first batter of the sixth inning.
Once he left, the Orioles bullpen held, and the hitters did the rest. Cedric Mullins bunted his way on to lead off the inning and stole second before scoring on a double by Hanser Alberto. Núñez singled and scored Alberto, and José Iglesias doubled to score Núñez.
Pat Valaika homered in the eighth inning to extend the lead to 5-1, and Cole Sulser finished off his second six-out save in a week, and third save in four chances. His two perfect innings came after Miguel Castro and Evan Phillips each retired all three batters they faced as well.
The series sweep was the Orioles’ first since Aug. 27-29, 2018, against the Toronto Blue Jays.
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Just eight games into the 2020 season, the Orioles are back to setting pitching records — but this one was the good kind.
Evan Phillips’ strikeout of Willy Adames to begin the seventh inning was their 10th of the game, giving the Orioles a team-record five straight games with 10 or more strikeouts.
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The Orioles nearly manufactured a run in the sixth inning, but replay review didn’t cooperate. Anthony Santander singled to lead off the inning and went to second on a topped ground ball by Núñez.
He got an aggressive send home on a single by pinch-hitter José Iglesias and made a good headfirst slide to the back side of the plate, but was called out by home plate umpire Chad Fairchild on a close play.
Santander wagged his finger in disagreement and the Orioles challenged, but the play stood as called.
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