– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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BALTIMORE — The first extended crisis of the season befell the Baltimore Orioles, a stretch of losing only made worse a couple of days ago by the loss of its main offensive catalyst. But the Orioles, to a man, believe that they are one of the teams in baseball, and their performance on Tuesday evening is hope that one of the true litmus tests of a team’s staying power, one’s depth, is one that they will pass over the next few weeks.
Anthony Santander had three hits, including a three-run triple as part of a five-run second inning, as the Orioles defeated the Cleveland Guardians 8-5 inside Camden Yards to even up the three-game series. Santander and Gunnar Henderson each drove in three runs while starting pitcher Kyle Gibson allowed three runs in 5 2/3 innings to earn his seventh victory of the season.
Earlier on in the day, Baltimore, who came in losing three of its last four games, placed All-Star centerfielder Cedric Mullins on the injured list after he injured his groin during Monday’s defeat to the Guardians. Mullins is expected to miss multiple weeks, a blow to an Orioles’ offense that had scored three runs or fewer in each of the last four games before today.
“I don’t know if you can replace what [Mullins] brings to the table,” said Orioles outfielder Austin Hays, the team’s regular left fielder who started in center tonight in place of Mullins. “He’s elite at every facet of the game. So it’s going to be a group effort to really come together and just play as a whole to try to do what we can to fill that void.”
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Tuesday evening’s contest, with all photos taken by DC-area photographer Phillip Peters. After clicking on the first photo to enlarge the picture, make sure to press the left and right arrow buttons to scroll through the rest of the pictures. There are 33 pictures in total.
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