Orioles: Pedro Alvarez First Base Adventures

Pedro Alvarez had two 90-foot trips to first base on Sunday afternoon that were critical to the scoring of three Orioles runs and a 5-3 win and series sweep over the Cleveland Indians.

One day after Chris Davis hustled to first base on a double-play ball to get a run scored from third base, Pedro Alvarez did the same. The video replay proving it and overturning the call. It was good to see one of these challenges go the O’s way.

Little things make a big difference in the game of baseball, where inches and split seconds can make all of the difference. And it happened a second time later in the game.

In the ninth inning, Alvarez struck out on a wild pitch, having also the presence of mind to run to first base. By shear good fortune, the throw from catcher Roberto Perez hit Pedro in the head. We could say he put his head to good use, deflecting the ball. This gave the Orioles an extra out, setting the stage for the Nolan Reimold walk-off homer off Cody Allen.

This blog and its writers have been likely the most Reimold supportive of O’s sites. But even we would have to acknowledge he has not played well in recent times. Is this homer enough to save Nolan from future moves, like, oh, what could it be? Like … if the Orioles were to obtain the Upton fellow from San Diego, with Hyun Soo Kim returning as well, etc.  Reimold has already used up more than nine lives in his career with the Birds, so never count him out.

The home run was the first in 56 days for Nolan and the third walk-off shot in his career. He last accomplished this on 8/10/11 against Jason Frasor and the White Sox. Prior to that he hit a game-winning walk-off as the fourth homer of his career on 5/27/09 against Brian Wolfe of the Blue Jays. It was in the bottom of the 11^th with the O’s trailing 10-9 and one out. Scoring ahead of him were Melvin Mora and Cesar Izturis (pinch running for Luke Scott).  Lots of memories there!

Speaking of nine lives and returning from the dead, Darren O’Day certainly acted like nothing was bothering him in his return after many weeks on the disabled list. He struck out the side in the ninth, improving to 3-1 on the season with the victory and lowering his ERA to a perfect 3.00.  Having him back and performing well with good health is definitely the addition of an extra weapon.

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Vance Worley gave the Orioles seven good innings of two-run baseball. It was not dominant, and he walked the edge a few times. But like a veteran he kept the team in the game.

Baltimore is now 8-4 over the past 12 games, with the pitching staff having a total ERA of 2.77 over those 104 innings.

Jonathan Schoop had previously put the Orioles ahead 3-2 with his 17^th homer, a solo shot off Corey Kluber in the fifth inning. To update our occasional watch of home runs and strikeouts this season, the O’s have hit 148 home runs and struck out 817 times in 97 games …

The home run pace has dropped just a bit from where it was a few weeks ago, but we know that could always change suddenly. Even as the Orioles are on pace to break their own franchise strikeout record, they actually rank 6^th in the American League. It is definitely a bigger part of the sport than in the past.

Did you see who has the most wins now in the American League? It is some team called the Orioles. OK, yes, the Rangers have the same number of wins, but two more losses. And the O’s are only two games back of the Cubs for the best overall win percentage in all of MLB.