Means and Diaz Lead Orioles to Victory Against Rays: 3/6/2019 Recap
It was a beautiful sunny day in Port Charlotte, Florida, as the Tampa Bay Rays hosted the Baltimore Orioles at Charlotte Sports Park. Southpaw John Means was on the mound for the O’s, and the newest addition to Tampa’s starting rotation, Charlie Morton, made his first Spring Training start. Baltimore was coming off a brutal loss to Pittsburgh, losing 10-4 and setting their record at 6-4 in Grapefruit League action.
Means was dominant in the first inning, striking out the side after giving up a one out walk. After giving up a leadoff walk in the second to Willy Adames, Means got some help from his battery mate Chance Sisco, who nabbed Adames trying to steal second. Means, then, struck out Guillermo Heredia and induced a fly out to Emilio Bonifacio.
A leadoff triple by Orioles Rule-5 Draft pick Richie Martin in the third inning and a broken-bat ground out to first base by Cedric Mullins closed out the day for Charlie Morton. Morton went 2 and 1/3 innings, striking out two and giving up two hits. Yonny Chirinos came in relief and struck out both Trey Mancini and Chance Sisco to escape the inning without giving up a run.
Means gave up his first hit of the game in the bottom of the third to Keon Wong. He then induced two fly outs and a strikeout to complete his outing. Means went 3 innings of one hit ball, striking out five and walking two.
Bo Schultz replaced Means in the bottom of the fourth inning. Schultz struggled, giving up three singles in a row. With the bases loaded and no outs, Schultz hits Guillermo Heredia to score the first run of the game. After inducing a fly out, Schultz is replaced by Omar Bencomo. Bencomo gave up a walk to Michael Perez, scoring a second run for the Rays. After the bases loaded walk, Keon Wong grounded into a force out, scoring Willy Adames and giving the Rays a 3-0 lead. Daniel Robertson, then, flied out to right field to end the inning.
The Orioles finally got on the board in the top of the fifth inning thanks to a solo home run from Anthony Santander. After the solo shot, Richie Martin hit an infield single and Cedric Mullins blasted a home run to right-center field to tie the game at 3. After striking out Trey Mancini, Yonny Chirinos exits the game and is replaced by Ricardo Pinto, who got Chance Sisco to fly out and Renato Nunez to strike out to retire the side.
Luis Ortiz entered the game in relief for the Birds in the bottom of the fifth inning. Ortiz gave up a leadoff single to Tommy Pham and a double to left field by Ji-Man Choi. Ortiz, then, walked Avisail Garcia to load the bases with no outs. Sacrifice flies by Willy Adames and Guillermo Heredia gave the Rays a 5-3 lead going into the sixth inning.
Diego Castillo pitched a scoreless one, two, three sixth inning for the Rays plus the first out in the top of the seventh. Emilio Pagan came in to finish the top of the seventh, striking out Richie Martin and getting Cedric Mullins to fly out. On the Orioles side, Tanner Scott pitched a scoreless one, two, three sixth inning and Paul Fry tossed a scoreless seventh inning.
Emilio Pagan came back out in the top of the eighth inning and gave up a single to Christopher Bostick and walks to D.J. Stewart and Jace Peterson to load the bases with no outs. Tyler Cloyd replaced Pagan and immediately gave up a 3-run double to Yusniel Diaz, giving the O’s a 6-5 lead. After striking out Ryan Mountcastle, Cloyd gave up an infield single to Rule-5 Draft pick, Drew Jackson, and a single to Jack Reinheimer, which scored Diaz and gave the Birds a 7-5 lead. Cloyd, then, gets Martin Cervenka and Ryan McKenna to fly out to end the top of the eighth.
Cody Carroll pitched a scoreless eighth inning for the O’s giving up no hits, a walk, and two strikeouts. Mike Yastrzemski hit a 2-run homer in the top of the ninth off of Ryan Stanek to give the O’s a 9-5 lead.
Pedro Araujo closed the game out for Baltimore, tossing a two hit, one run bottom of the ninth to lead the Orioles to a 9-6 win against the Rays. The O’s are now 7-4 in Spring Training and will play tomorrow against the Pittsburgh Pirates in Bradenton, Florida at 1:05 PM. Mike Wright Jr. is the scheduled starter for tomorrow’s game.
Final score from Port Charlotte- Orioles 9 and Rays 6
