Baltimore Orioles: Walk-off Wins of 2014
Sep 12, 2014; Baltimore, MD, USA; Baltimore Orioles teammates mob pinch hitter Jimmy Paredes (38) after he hit the game-winning two-run double in the eleventh inning against the New York Yankees in game one of a doubleheader at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. The Orioles defeated the Yankees 2-1 in eleven innings. Mandatory Credit: Joy R. Absalon-USA TODAY Sports
With the Baltimore Orioles getting two walk-off wins against the New York Yankees over the weekend, it brings to mind the number of occasions that this has happened in 2014. The actual number is 10 times, whereas they have been the victim of a walk-off loss on seven occasions.
Looking back over the past five seasons, here are the numbers of walk-off wins and walk-off losses…
2014 – 10-7
2013 – 7-12
2012 – 7-0
2011 – 9-7
2010 – 12-9
After writing most of this article today, I saw where Roch Kubatko had already this afternoon written on the same theme. He points out in his piece that there are three teams with 11 walk-offs, and those teams are not exactly champions right now: San Diego, Miami, and Cleveland.
So what does it say about a team that wins with walk-offs? In Roch’s article, Showalter said, “I wish I was that smart to say this is exactly it in black and white and let’s try to duplicate that and let’s teach that through the system.”
Without doubt there is an intangible element of players who believe they can do this and who together accomplish the “verb of the year” for the Orioles – they “grind” it out.
Giving it some thought today, it would seem to me that there are two other more tangible reasons why teams would have a high number of these experiences: one very positive reason and one that is not as fully complimentary.
First, it requires some decent relief pitching to be in positive positions to hold down an opponent until the offence can get the game-winning run across the plate. Clearly, the Orioles have an outstanding bullpen. Even though the pen over the weekend twice gave up a run in the top of the inning wherein the O’s would walk-off in the bottom, over and over the Orioles, in these games and others, kept the team in the game to get to the critical moment.
Consider the previous two years for the Orioles. The 7-12 numbers of 2013 are attributable largely to the troubled bullpen featuring Jim Johnson, including three consecutive walk-off losses in Arizona – the backbreaker games of the season.
In 2012, with the O’s 7-0 in these situations, it was the Jim Johnson-led stellar bullpen that held the team in game after game for the extra-inning and one-run wins that uniquely characterized that season.
The other major contributing factor would be an offense that is highly capable of putting up a lot of runs in a short time, but that is often also held down by good pitching. I think that characterizes the Orioles. When a team fails to score early and often and put games away with tack-on runs, there are going to be a higher number of situations where close games exist at the very end.
Here is a quick review of the 10 walk-off wins of 2014, with #10 being Sunday’s clutch hit by Kelly Johnson, and #9 occurring on Friday afternoon with Jimmy Paredes driving in two runs with two outs in the bottom of the 11th inning.
#8 – July 29 by 7-6 over the Angels in 12 innings – Manny Machado hit a walk-off solo home run against Cory Rasmus. So it was 45 days between walk-off O’s wins.
#7 – July 11 by 3-2 over the Yankees in 10 innings – Batting ninth in the batting order, Nick Hundley singled home the winning run. Showalter said that evening, “If we were that good, we’d do it before extra innings.” Haha… good stuff!
#6 – June 25 by 5-4 over the White Sox in 12 innings – Nelson Cruz hit a game-tying grand slam in the bottom of the eighth inning, and then scored the winning run on a wild pitch in the 12th.
#5 – June 23 by 6-4 over the White Sox in 9 innings – Trailing 4-3 going into the bottom of the ninth inning, struggling Chris Davis was sent in to pinch hit and he drove a three-run homer for the winner off Ronald Belisario.
#4 – May 10 by 5-4 over the Astros in 10 innings – In a crazy back-and-forth game in the ninth inning – where the Astros took a lead with two runs, there was a rain delay, and the Orioles tied it in the bottom – Steve Clevenger’s double in the bottom of the 10th was a game-winner.
#3 – May 1 by 6-5 over the Pirates in 10 innings – This was the second game of a doubleheader with rain delays, etc. that lasted a total of nine hours between the two games. Matt Wieters hit a walk-off home run about 1:00 in the morning to put an end to a long day.
#2 – April 26 by 3-2 over the Royals in 10 innings – Nick Markakis had the RBI single with the bases loaded by pitcher Danny Duffy, who hit a batter and made two fielding errors to put the three O’s on base.
#1 – April 12 by 2-1 over the Blue Jays in 12 innings – After Colby Rasmus – that Toronto pest – sent the game into extras with a ninth-inning homer, David Lough delivered the walk-off single in the 12th inning.
In the 10 walk-off wins, 10 different Orioles were the heroes. And the list is interesting. It contains the three Orioles who are now out for the season. And it includes some players who are very much role players – like Lough, Clevenger, and Hundley. And of course, the late additions of Paredes and Johnson have paid off as well. It is a picture of a well-balanced team.