The Orioles ended up prevailing in a wild one Thursday afternoon against the A's. It was quite the roller coaster through the first half of the game before settling down and then ramping up again for the big finish.
The Orioles had a 3-1 lead through two innings, gave up three runs in the third, answered with four in the bottom of the third, gave up two more in the fourth and then another run in the fifth. That left the score tied, 7-7 in the middle of the fifth inning. Then the scoring just dried up.
Well, at least until Orioles' budding superstar Adley Rutschman stepped to the plate in the bottom of the ninth against Trevor May.
The Orioles actually had a strong scoring opportunity in the bottom of the eighth. The inning started with two singles and then the runners moved to second and third with no out. Jorge Mateo popped out and then Cedric Mullins hit what looked like it would be a go-ahead sac fly, but A's right fielder Ramon Laureano threw the runner out at home.
All's well that ends well in Baltimore, as the Orioles win, 8-7, on Rutschman's blast.
The 2019 No. 1 overall draft pick played 113 games last season after debuting May 21. He would finish second in AL Rookie of the Year voting behind the easy and obvious winner, Julio Rodríguez.
Rutschman looks every bit the part of a star so far in 2023. Through 13 games, he's hitting .373/.467/.627 with a double, four home runs, nine RBI and nine runs.
The Orioles are now 7-6 on the young season. Somewhat humorously, they've yet to go more than one game above .500 or more than one game below. They'll now head to Chicago for a three-game weekend series against the White Sox.
