– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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BALTIMORE — The Baltimore Orioles ended their worst stretch of baseball this season in the best way possible. Conversely, the New York Yankees did everything perfect to gain back first place in their division before the All-Star Break yet stumbled, literally, at the final hurdle.
Down to their final strike, and staring their longest losing streak in over two years in the face, the Orioles rallied for three runs in the bottom of the ninth, with Cedric Mullins’ walk-off two-run double capping a 6-5 comeback victory over the New York inside Oriole Park at Camden Yards in a Sunday morning matinee. The win snapped a season-high-tying five game losing streak for the Orioles, who head into the All-Star Break one game ahead of the Yankees in the American League East division standings.
Mullins’ hit was the second consecutive at-bat that saw a Yankee miscue on the field, as left fielder Alex Verdugo initially ran in on the fly ball before racing back and, eventually, stumbling and falling to the turf as the ball landed safely a few feet beyond him to end the game. One batter earlier, and facing an 0-2 count with the bases loaded and Baltimore down 5-3, Ryan Mountcastle hit a routine ground ball to short off New York closer Clay Holmes, but last year’s Gold Glove winner at shortstop, Anthony Volpe, bobbled the ball and was late with his throw to second, cutting the Orioles’ deficit to one and extending the game for one more batter.
That batter, Mullins, put an end to the somber times in the Inner Harbor, as the Orioles had scored just four runs combined during the five-game skid before those three runs in the ninth.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Sunday morning’s game, with photos taken by DC-area photographer Michael R. Smith. 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 nine pictures in total.
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