– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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BALTIMORE — Though emerging superstar Gunnar Henderson has firmly established himself as the president of the Baltimore Orioles’ Home Run Club this season, Anthony Santander continues to prove he’s a good understudy and, when the opportunity arises, can be the leading man when the team needs a sustained power jolt. Especially after the latest news on the injury front in Baltimore, a boost of good news was necessary, and Santander came through on that front of Saturday
Santander drove in four runs while smacking two homers, with his second eventually making it onto Eutaw Street well beyond the right field wall, as the Orioles defeated the Philadelphia Phillies 6-2 inside Oriole Park at Camden Yards on Saturday afternoon. After allowing a run in each of the first two innings, Baltimore starter Grayson Rodriguez settled down before giving the Orioles’ taxed bullpen a much-needed break with seven innings of work while allowing just those two runs while striking out six.
Not only did the two home runs mark the 14th multi-home run game of Santander’s career, but it also kept the Orioles atop the home run leaderboard, as Baltimore has slugged 110 homers on the season. He helped erase the Orioles’ early deficit with a solo shot in the fourth inning off Phillies starter Taijuan Walker to tie the game at 2-2, and then gave the Orioles the lead with a sacrifice fly that scored Ryan Mountcastle.
In the eighth, Santander launched a slider from Philadelphia reliever José Ruiz 425 feet down the right-field line for a two-run shot to give the Orioles some insurance with a 5-2 lead.
Santander now leads the Majors with eight home runs in the month of June, which isn’t a coincidence given his admission that he gets better as the calendar starts creeps closer to the summer months.
“I don’t know what’s happened, but I feel great when it’s hot,” Santander said. “I’m from Venezuela, so that weather is always 90, 95. I wish it can be hot the whole year.”
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Saturday afternoon’s game, with photos taken by ALOST staff photographer Yusuf Abdullah. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page, Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are 31 pictures in total.
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