The Orioles take 2 of 3 from the Mariners, but still have the worst record in the AL. Boston runs its record to 14 straight in this 2020 MLB season sim.
When the Baltimore Orioles and Seattle Mariners met this week in Seattle, it was to settle a status neither desired: worst team in the 2020 MLB season AL simulation.
That the Orioles won twice in the three-game series didn’t actually help them avoid that designation. Heading into the final weekend before the All-Star break, they remain percentage points behind the Mariners at the bottom of the AL pecking order.
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But it did provide a small measure of hope for the future, particularly given that they will host the Mariners for three more games following the break. For Orioles fans, perhaps that will be the moment to actually get ahead of somebody in the standings.
The Orioles took the series by running roughshod over the Mariners Monday, then dividing a pair of one-run games. Alex Cobb was solid if not spectacular Monday, pitching seven innings and allowing three runs in a 10-5 decision.
Richie Martin had three hits, while Jorge Rondon, Austin Wynns, Pedro Severino, and Hanser Alberto all drove in two runs.
Tuesday’s 4-3 win was a tougher slog. Kohl Stewart gave up just two runs in his seven innings and left with a 4-2 lead thanks to home runs by Dwight Smith Jr. and Renato Nunez. Mychal Givens shut down a brief ninth inning Mariners rally to pick up his 12th save.
That positioned the Orioles to actually jump ahead of Seattle in the AL standings with a Wednesday win. The game was a 1-1 tie until the bottom of the eighth when Shed Long’s pinch-hit single off Hunter Harvey sent home Dylan Moore, who had drawn a base on balls. Long’s hit, only Seattle’s third of the game, made a winner out of Taijuan Walker, who allowed just that single run and five hits in eight innings.
In other mid-week action, the Boston Red Sox ran their season-high winning streak to 14 games with a sweep of the Toronto Blue Jays at Fenway Park. The Yankees lost a two-game series to the Mets, and the Tampa Bay Rays split a pair of games with the Milwaukee Brewers.
In the AL Central, Cleveland won twice at Cincinnati. The Minnesota Twins won two of three against the Kansas City Royals, then opened a four-game weekend series against the Blue Jays with an 8-5 victory. The White Sox lost twice to the Cubs.
In the West, the Los Angeles Angels won three of four against the visiting Detroit Tigers, while Texas lost two of three in Miami. The division-leading Astros emerged with two victories in a three-game homestand against the NL East’s Philadelphia Phillies, while their chief rivals, the Oakland A’s, split a pair of games with the San Francisco Giants and then lost the opener of a four-game series with the Mariners.