Henry Urrutia’s first career home run a walkoff winner for Orioles
Take a look around the league with Big League Stew’s daily wrap up. We’ll hit on all of the biggest moments from the day that you may have missed, while providing highlights, photos and interesting stats.
The Baltimore Orioles are heating up and hoping to make things interesting in the AL East.
After sweeping a four-game series from the Oakland A’s over the weekend, Baltimore dropped a tough one to the Mets on Tuesday. They bounced back though in dramatic fashion on Wednesday, winning 5-4 on Henry Urrutia’s first career home run.
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Indeed, the round tripper couldn’t have come at a better time for Baltimore. Urrutia teed off against Mets reliever Carlos Torres, lining the pitch just over the wall in left field. It barely had the height and it barely had the distance, but it managed to the find the seats. The 28-year-old rookie hasn’t done much in limited action, hitting .200 over his first four games, but he’s definitely part of the fun now.
According to Elias Sports, Urrutia is the first Orioles player to have a walkoff home run as his first career home run since Chris Hoiles in 1990. That covers a lot of ground and some really good players.
The Orioles also got clutch home runs from Jonathan Schoop and Adam Jones, who both tied the game in earlier innings. Schoop’s blast came off Mets’ starter Noah Syndergaard, ending his outing in the sixth inning. After Wilmer Flores gave New York the lead again with a homer, Jones connected against reliever Hansel Robles.
GREG BIRD’S FIRST TWO HOMERS LEAD YANKEES TO WIN
The theme of the day in the AL East was rookies hitting the long ball.
Last Thursday, the New York Yankees promoted first base prospect Greg Bird to boost their lagging offense. In Wednesday’s 4-3 win against Minnesota, Bird provided two big boosts, launching a pair of two-run home runs that proved to be New York’s entire offense.
Starting for Mark Teixeira, who’s been out of the Yankees lineup since Monday night fouling a pitch off his right shin, Bird connected twice off Ervin Santana. The first two-run shot started the game’s scoring in the fourth inning. After Minnesota then rallied to take a brief lead, Bird also capped the scoring with his second homer.
The home runs were the first of Bird’s career in just his fifth game, which now connects him to a pair of, well, perhaps not Yankees legends.
Odds are Bird will end up faring better with New York. Either way, his homers on Wednesday were obviously huge and could have a lasting impact on the AL East race.
RYAN BRAUN BECOMES BREWERS ALL-TIME HOME RUN LEADER
Ryan Braun becomes Brewers all-time home run leader.
In just his ninth big league season, Ryan Braun became the Milwaukee Brewers all-time home run leader on Wednesday by hitting No. 252.
The milestone homer, which was Braun’s 22nd of the season, was a solo shot off Marlins reliver Chrs Narveson. Braun and Narveson were teammates with the Brewers for five seasons until the veteran left-hander hit free agency following the 2013 season.
[On this week’s StewPod: Angels pitcher Hector Santiago talks about his huge autograph collection.]
Hall of Famer Robin Yount previously held the Brewers mark. Yount played the entirety of his 20-year career with Milwaukee, hitting a total of 251 home runs. His high watermark was the 29 he hit during his MVP season in 1982. Braun has hit 29 or more home runs already in five seasons, and is on pace to do it again this season. Braun topped Yount’s total in 6,360 fewer at-bats.
As for Wednesday’s result, the Brewers would hold on to defeat Miami 8-7 with Braun’s homer proving to be the difference. Khris Davis also had a huge afternoon, connecting for two home runs and driving in five. Davis has 14 for the season and is now just 205 behind Braun.
ASTROS WALKOFF AGAIN IN EXTRAS
It was deja vu all over again for the Houston Astros at Minute Maid. After winning 3-2 in 10 innings on Tuesday, they turned right around and won again 3-2 in 13 innings on Wednesday.
The hero this time around was rookie sensation Carlos Correa. The 20-year-old shortstop delivered the first of what will be many walkoff hits with an RBI single off Rays reliever Matt Andriese. Correa also started the scoring with his 15th home run, a solo shot off Nathan Karns in the first inning.
Needless to say, Correa is a special talent with a knack for making impact plays.
Speaking of impact players, Astros starter Dallas Keuchel was special again, tossing seven innings of two-run ball. He was looking to improve to 12-0 at home this season, but will settle for a no decision and an all important team win.
Want to see more from Wednesday’s slate of games? Check out our scoreboard.
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813
