After moving back into sole possession of first place in the American League East with a strong all-around effort on Friday, the Baltimore Orioles will turn to ace Corbin Burnes on Saturday as they try to clinch their weekend series against the Tampa Bay Rays in St. Petersburg, Fla. The Orioles moved a half-game ahead of the New York Yankees with a 4-1 victory in the series opener.
Zach Eflin scattered four hits over seven shutout innings and Colton Cowser and Cedric Mullins both homered. Baltimore, which improved to 4-4 on its season-high 10-game road trip, also got some standout defensive plays by shortstop Gunnar Henderson and third baseman Ramon Urias en route to its seventh win in eight games against the Rays this season. "That was one of our most satisfying games in a while for me just because of the pitching that we got and the defense that we played," Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said.
"I just thought that we played really good baseball, baseball that we played the first few months of the season." The Orioles are just 12-15 since July 9 but still hold a half-game lead over the New York Yankees, who had their game rained out on Friday. "Timely hits, really good defense, big plays defensively and outstanding pitching," Hyde said.
"That was fun to watch." Eflin improved to 3-0 in three starts since being acquired in a trade from the Rays on July 26. He tied his season high with seven strikeouts and walked one.
"Honestly, it was kind of like an out-of-body experience," Ef.