Baltimore Orioles: Top 5 Most Memorable Games of 2017
By Nate Wardle
3. Baltimore Orioles Open Season With Extra Innings Win vs. Toronto Blue Jays
We already featured the last walk-off home run of the season. How about the first one, in the first game?
This game had a lot of drama involved in it. First game of the year. First game between Toronto and Baltimore since the AL Wild Card game in 2016, where Edwin Encarnacion ripped a walk-off home run off Ubaldo Jimenez.
More from The Baltimore Wire
- What other Baltimore Orioles Offseason Storylines will you be interested in seeing?
- Baltimore Orioles to Face Numerous Playoff Contenders Down the Stretch
- Baltimore Orioles Showing Encouraging Signs During Recent Wins
- The Baltimore Orioles and the Expanded September Roster
- Maryland Football: Terps honor Jordan McNair, beat Longhorns 34-29
The game started off with good pitching, which isn’t surprising early in the season. Kevin Gausman faced off with Marco Estrada in this one, and the game was scoreless through the first two innings.
In the bottom of the third, the Orioles’ offense came alive. One of the Orioles acquisitions, Seth Smith, led the inning off with a double. Adam Jones walked after Smith, and then Manny Machado got out.
That brought up Chris Davis with runners on first and second base. Davis singled to right field, driving in Smith and putting Adam on third base, although Davis got out on his way to second base.
Trumbo followed with a double and the Orioles were up 2-0 on the Jays. In the fifth inning, three walks by Gausman made it 2-1, but he limited the damage to keep the Orioles in the lead.
Gausman came back out for the sixth and allowed a single to former Oriole Steve Pearce, and that ended his Opening Day start. Mychal Givens came in, and he got Kevin Pillar out but then allowed an RBI double to Ezequiel Carrera to knot the score at 2.
The score remained there, with the Orioles doing nothing offensively until the 11th inning. Notably, Zach Britton pitched the ninth and tenth innings, his first appearances after not appearing in the Wild Card game.
Tyler Wilson pitched the 11th for the Orioles, handing the game to the offense against Jason Grilli. Lastly, Grilli got the first two out on eight pitches and up strode Mark Trumbo.
It was a raucous end to the game for the Orioles and their fans, and got the team off to a good start to the 2017 season.