For a Baltimore Orioles team that has spent most of the spring watching its season tilt sideways, Wednesday afternoon at Camden Yards finally felt like the real thing.
The Orioles beat the New York Yankees 7-0 in the series finale, two weeks after those same Yankees outscored them 39-10 over four games in the Bronx.
Adley Rutschman drove in three runs, including a fifth-inning homer. Kyle Bradish gave up one hit across six scoreless innings.
Baltimore took two of three on the homestand and, for the first time in a long while, the lineup actually clicked top to bottom.
Manager Craig Albernaz had been waiting on a game like this one.
An All-Around Win at Camden Yards
Baltimore improved to 20-24 with the victory and got to Yankees lefty Max Fried right away.
Coby Mayo doubled home a run in the second, then Rutschman and Pete Alonso drove in runs in the third inning to push the lead to 3-0.
Rutschman, who has flashed his old All-Star form here and there this year, added a homer in the fifth.
Mayo capped off the scoring later.
The Yankees fell to 27-17 and have now lost five of their last six.
It was Baltimore's first shutout of the year.
Bradish walked three, struck out seven, and dropped his ERA to 4.21.
His curveball, which is what carried him to a fourth-place finish in 2023 AL Cy Young voting, looked alive again.
Albernaz Spells Out the Recipe
Asked about the offense afterward, Albernaz pointed to the variety more than any single hot bat.
"We have the ability to be a diverse offense, and we've shown that," Albernaz said. "Like, Adley got into a ball for a home run. But we have guys that can bunt, we have guys that can hit the ball the other way, we have guys that are capable of situational hitting, and we've shown the ability to walk and manage the at-bat. So it's kind of all of us putting it together when the situation calls for it, and that's what happened today."
This roster has power, speed, contact, and a few bats that can grind out a long at-bat when the moment calls for it.
The trick has been getting all of those pieces to show up on the same afternoon, which is exactly what Wednesday looked like.
Time to Build Momentum
The Orioles, picked by some to win a World Series before the season started, are four games under .500 with a lot of ground to make up in the AL East.
A road trip to face the Washington Nationals sits there as a real chance to stack a few wins, which Baltimore has yet to do all season.
If Bradish keeps pitching the way he did Wednesday, and the lineup keeps doing what Albernaz described, this thing might not be done yet.
