Chris Davis Slams Baltimore Orioles to Win

Aug 29, 2014; Baltimore, MD, USA; Baltimore Orioles third baseman

Jimmy Paredes

(38) bats in the fifth inning against the Minnesota Twins at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. The Orioles defeated the Twins 9-1. Mandatory Credit: Joy R. Absalon-USA TODAY Sports

The 9-1 victory of the Baltimore Orioles over the Minnesota Twins on Friday evening had the look of a classic O’s game. There were seven innings of solid starting pitching and six runs scored on home runs by Chris Davis (grand slam) and Delmon Young. No errors were committed, and the bullpen (in the person of Brian Matusz) pitched two perfect innings.

Miguel Gonzalez is a pitcher. He does not have the velocity of so many starters, but when he is on with his stuff, he works the edges well and throws a lot of late movement. And he was “on” Friday night – pitching seven inning with four hits and only one walk. The lone run he surrendered was a seventh-inning homer to Trevor Plouffe.

For the first three innings it looked like yet another young pitcher was going to shut down the Baltimore Orioles. Trevor May struck out five of the first 10 O’s that he faced, giving up only a soft single to J.J. Hardy.

But Jimmy Paredes led off the bottom of the fourth with a single. Yes – Paredes – that is the name of an Orioles player … more on that later. Two HBPs later and a bases-loaded walk, and Chris Davis broke open the game with his slam to right-center field. Young’s homer in next inning sealed it even more fully.

Paredes came into the game to replace Steve Pearce who was pulled due to some concerns about a developing abdominal strain of some sort. Paredes, as mentioned above, began the five-run rally in the fourth inning. In the next inning after a leadoff double by Nick Markakis, Paredes hit behind the runner on a groundout to second base to advance Markakis—where he would score on an Adam Jones single. The newest Oriole also walked once.

So what is the story on Pearce? An MRI will be done on Saturday morning to determine the nature of it. To hear Buck Showalter’s comments, it had the sound of something potentially of significance. To hear Steve Pearce himself, it had much more of a tone of an abundance of caution. Let’s hope Pearce is correct and it is a simple thing for just a couple of days.

The loss of Pearce, or even the interruption of his hot streak, would be a severe loss to the Orioles at this time. I would say it is bigger than the loss of Matt Wieters or Manny Machado.

Really? Here’s why …

Wieters has been replaced this year defensively by the excellent play of Caleb Joseph and adequate catching of Nick Hundley. If the beginning of Wieters’ season was to portend what would have followed at bat all year, there isn’t any catcher going to replicate that. But Joseph in particular has been about as good as what might have come from Wieters in previous years. Though his average is only .225, Joseph hit some critical homers especially in the streak of games that helped to build the current Orioles seven-game advantage in the AL East.