– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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BALTIMORE — He may be just four starts into his Baltimore Orioles tenure, but Zach Eflin is indeed proving, in one sense, that orange is the new black.
Eflin continued his dominant start as a member of the Orioles, as he struck out eight and allowed just one run during Baltimore’s 5-1 victory over the Boston Red Sox inside Oriole Park at Camden Yards on Thursday evening. Gunnar Henderson hit a two-run home run for a second consecutive night, while Cedric Mullins also went deep as the Orioles tied the idle New York Yankees for first place in the American League East with the win.
No team was busier around the trade deadline than the Orioles two weeks ago, who made seven deals in the lead-up to the July 31 cut-off, and the biggest payoff from those moves so far has been Eflin, who threw his fourth consecutive quality start in as many games in the orange and black. Eflin becomes just the second pitcher in Orioles franchise history (since moving from St. Louis in 1954) to earn a win in each of his first four appearances with the club — and the first to pull that off with four starts.
“From being viewed as a depth acquisition for the starting rotation after season-ending injuries to Kyle Bradish, John Means and Tyler Wells earlier in the season, Eflin almost certainly is the Orioles’ No. 2 starter behind former Cy Young Award winner Corbin Burnes.
“I’m trying to go out and do my job every fifth day, stay in the game as long as I can,” said Eflin. “Those are things I’m focused on. I’m not necessarily focused on getting approval from everybody. Just go out, play hard, be competitive and see where it takes me.”
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Thursday evening’s game, with photos taken by DC-area photographer Clifford Ray Williams. 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 28 pictures in total.
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