Orioles lose despite historic first-inning home run barrage
Welcome to The Walk Off, the nightly MLB recap from Big League Stew. Here we’ll look at the top performers of the night, show you a must-see highlight and rundown the scoreboard. First, we start with a game you need to know about.
One day after hitting six homers in a blowout win against the Astros, the Baltimore Orioles offense picked right up with a home run barrage that had never been seen before in Major League Baseball history.
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Adam Jones, Manny Machado, Chris Davis and Mark Trumbo all homered among the Orioles first five batters, with the latter three going back-to-back-to-back. That gave Baltimore a 5-1 lead — George Springer hit a leadoff homer for Houston — just five batters into the game. And it made them the first to ever hit four home runs before an out an had been recorded.
According to Stats LLC, Orioles are first team ever to hit four homers before making an out.
— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) August 19, 2016
That is an amazing accomplishment that will only go unappreciated by Colin McHugh, the Houston pitcher who allowed all four of them. For Jones, it was No. 24 this season. For Machado and Davis, it was No. 28. For Trumbo, it was his league-leading 36th.
Overall, the home run binge gave Baltimore a total of 10 in under nine full innings of play. Here’s the kicker though: Houston managed to rally and win Friday’s game. Not by a little either. They actually pulled away with a 15-8 victory after hitting four homers of their own.
The biggest home run of the game belonged to the smallest player on the field. MVP candidate Jose Altuve launched a two-run shot that opened up Houston’s lead. That gives him 20 on the season. Altuve also doubled home two and singled in another run.
Overall, the teams combined for nine homers, tying a league high.
9 homers in @astros – @Orioles game, tied for the most in a game this season (Tigers-Angels, Reds-Rockies games each had 9, both on May 31
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) August 20, 2016
What a crazy, crazy game. But that’s only one of several on a wild Friday night around MLB.
TOP PERFORMERS
Rick Porcello: Say hello to MLB’s second 17-game winner, who’s every bit as surprise as the first. Porcello joined Toronto’s J.A. Happ by tossing seven innings of one-run in Boston’s 10-2 win against the Tigers. Porcello improved to 17-3 on the season, while Boston improved to 19-6 in game he’s started. Considered him a dark horse Cy Young candidate who is surging fast.
Cole Hamels: The Rangers left-hander was on his game in Friday’s 6-2 win against the Rays. Hamels carried a no-hit bid into the sixth, losing it on a two-out, pinch-hit single by Corey Dickerson. Hamels would go on to pitch 7 1/3 innings of one-run ball, allowing just a home run to Steven Souza. Hamels improved to 13-4 on the season while lowering his ERA to 2.80.
Masahiro Tanaka: The Angels had no choice against the Yankees ace, mustering just five hits in his 7 2/3 innings. Tanaka struck out nine, walked none and didn’t allowed a run as the Yankees went on to an easy 7-0 win.
Kendall Graveman: The pitching excellence continued in Chicago, where Oakland’s Kendall Graveman went the distance in an A’s 9-0 win. The 25-year-old right-hander allowed just two hits and walked none to complete the outing. He required just 98 pitches, which is known around baseball as a “Maddux.” That refers to any complete shutout with less than 100 pitches thrown, which is acknowledge of Hall of Famer Greg Maddux’s efficiency.
Ryan Schimpf: The rookie had an epic night in the Padres 7-4 win against the Diamondbacks. In the eighth inning, he tied the game with a two-run homer. Two innings later, he hit a walk-off three-run homer than sent the fans home happy.
MUST-SEE HIGHLIGHT
On a night when we a saw a little bit of everything, why not a walk-off error? The Rockies rallied against Cubs closer Aroldis Chapman in the 11th, scoring two runs when Ryan Raburn’s RBI double turned into an RBI double, plus a two-base error on Javier Baez’s wild throw. Call if a walk-off Little League homer if you like, but definitely call it a Rockies 7-6 win.
REST OF SCOREBOARD
Indians 3, Blue Jays 2: Cleveland completed a comeback with an improbable walk-off homer. Check it out here.
Marlins 6, Pirates 5: Miami scored in each of its last four at-bats to pull off the come-from-behind win. That included home runs form J.T. Realmuto, Christian Yelich and Miguel Rojas, to go along with Robert Andino’s go-ahead single in the ninth.
Cardinals 4, Phillies 3: St. Louis tied it in the ninth on Jedd Gyorko’s home run. They won it in the 11th on Randal Grichuk’s RBI double. Grichuk also homered earlier in the game.
Nationals 7, Braves 6: Credit the Braves. They rallied from five down in the sixth to tie the game. Washington emerged in the ninth though thanks to Clint Robinson’s go-ahead single.
Reds 9, Dodgers 2: Joey Votto drove in four and Michael Lorenzen hit an emotional first career homer for Cincinnati.
Mariners 7, Brewers 6: Seattle keeps the pressure on in the AL wild-card race. They gained a full game on Baltimore, moving them to within two games of the second spot.
Giants 8, Mets 1: The Mets misery continues as they committed two fielding errors, several mental errors and went 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position.
Royals 5, Twins 4: After a rain delay, light delay and 11 innings, Kansas City wins on Eric Hosmer’s walk-off single. The game ended at 2:15 a.m. in Kansas City.
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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!
