By Jake McDonnell
After enduring a rain delay that eclipsed three hours, the Baltimore Orioles defeated the New York Yankees 7-5 on Sunday to take the opening series of 2019.
Just as everyone anticipated, right?
Five of the Orioles seven runs resulted from the long ball. In the first inning, designated hitter Renato Nunez smacked a three-run home run into the left field bleachers at Yankee Stadium to put the O's up 3-0.
Dwight Smith Jr. and Trey Mancini, both playing corner outfield spots on Sunday, scored on Nunez's homer. Both men made later contributions on offense. Mancini collected his first home run of the season in his next at-bat to extend Baltimore's lead to four. In the fifth inning Smith Jr. hit a single to Giancarlo Stanton in right field to score Jonathan Villar from second. The two final Orioles runs came off the bat of Joey Rickard, who hit his first home run of 2019 in the eighth inning that made it a 7-4 Baltimore edge.
The contributions from under-the-radar names like Nunez, Rickard, and Smith Jr. are just what this rebuilding Orioles team needs to see early this season. Rickard and Smith Jr. might not be exciting outfield prospects like Austin Hays or D.J. Stewart, but they've combined for six hits in 21 at-bats and they've played some impressive defense against a loaded Yankees lineup. Nunez served as the designated hitter twice over this series. With Mark Trumbo on the injured list, Nunez will continue to get opportunities at DH.
"We had really good at-bats," Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said after Sunday's win. "Ran the bases well, grinded against a good pitching staff, I just thought that we did a lot of things well."
Dylan Bundy's first start of 2019 was a mixed bag. Aside from walking Stanton with two outs in the first inning, Bundy cruised through his first two frames. Things started to unravel in the third inning when Gleyber Torres led off with a double and Bundy walked both D.J. LeMahieu and Stanton, but no runs were scored. Bundy did get both Gary Sanchez and Torres to strike out in the fourth inning. But walking Greg Bird and LeMahieu, along with allowing a single to Miguel Andujar, was enough for Hyde to take Bundy out after 3.2 innings.
John Means made his season debut in relief of Bundy, but he immediately walked Brett Gardner with the bases loaded to score Andujar. Then Aaron Judge hit a line drive single to Mancini in right field to score both Bird and LeMahieu. All three runs got charged to Bundy, who threw 93 pitches, 55 for strikes. He did rack up five walks, but only allowed two hits with seven strikeouts. Means overcame the early hiccup, going 3.1 innings and allowing one run on five hits and five strikeouts.
"We were short already in the bullpen big-time today," Hyde said after the game. "For [Means] to eat up the innings that he did, it was just outstanding."
Following Means, Hyde called on Mychal Givens for the second game in a row. Givens tossed a scoreless eighth inning but hit LeMahieu, walked Stanton and allowed a single by Gardner. Taking a 7-4 lead into the ninth inning, Givens retired Andujar and Sanchez on contact for the first two outs. But then he walked Bird and allowed singles to Torres and LeMahieu, which gave the Yankees their fifth run. Hyde called on Paul Fry for the final out. Fry struck out Troy Tulowitzki in five pitches to win the series for Baltimore.
The struggles of both Bundy and Givens are worth monitoring. Givens took a step back in 2018 and ended Spring training with a 14.29 ERA in 5.2 innings. Bundy allowed a league-high 41 home runs last year and continues to run into trouble the longer he pitches.
The Orioles home opener against the Yankees is just four days away, but first the Birds head over the border for three games against the Toronto Blue Jays at the Rogers Centre. Monday and Tuesday's games begin at 7:07 pm, and first pitch on Wednesday will be at 4:07 pm. David Hess, who threw two scoreless innings in Thursday's opening game, will toe the rubber for the O's on Monday.
Follow Jake on Twitter @JMcDonnell95
