O's win behind Cobb's outing and aggressive early swinging

The Orioles turned in a much different start today, with a strong pitching effort that got an early boost from some aggressive swinging.

They beat Boston 7-2 to even the three-game series at Fenway Park.

We all understand the need to work the count and get pitchers pitch counts up, but sometimes early count hacking can get the job done - if you swing at hittable pitches.

The Orioles did that early in today's game against Boston lefty Martín Pérez, scoring three runs in the first and two more in the second. The game was four pitches old and Baltimore had runners on second and third after Austin Hays singled on a 1-0 pitch and moved to third on Hanser Alberto's double to left on a 1-0 count.

But José Iglesias chased a pitch as he struck out and Anthony Santander lined out to right. Hays, at third base broke home on the lineout and then went back to the bag too late to tag and score. A promising rally was about to be squelched.

But another early-count hack produced two big runs. Renato Núñez doubled to left on the first pitch off the Green Monster for a clutch hit and 2-0 lead. Núñez moved up on a wild pitch and when third sacker Rafael Devers booted a slow roller by Pedro Severino, he scored from third for a 3-0 lead.

The Orioles, who got two runs last night over nine innings, had three before Alex Cobb took the mound today.

In the Baltimore second, RBI singles by Alberto and Iglesias made it a 5-0 lead. Again, early swinging was productive. Alberto singled on the first pitch and Iglesias did so on a 1-0 count.

They were aggressive against the Boston lefty and the O's went 6-for-12 with two doubles in the first two innings. They went 3-for-8 in those frames with runners in scoring position. Pérez settled in after that, but the damage was done.

Cobb threw a strong game and picked up his first win since Sept. 4, 2018 in his first regular season start since April 26, 2019. Over 5 1/3 innings, he allowed four hits and one run with no walks and six strikeouts. He had good command of his fastball and threw some nice splitters. He took a shutout into the sixth, but left the game after Mitch Moreland's solo homer.

Cobb pitched well today at the top of the zone. He threw 38 fastballs among his 78 pitches at an average velocity of 92.6 mph, according to BaseballSavant.com. He threw 26 splitters and got seven swings and misses. He had a strong summer camp and today it carried into the season. He gave his team a big lift after last night.

Miguel Castro faced just one batter in this game but recorded a huge strikeout. When Boston had cut the 5-0 lead to 5-2 in the sixth, Castro faced pinch-hitter Xander Bogaerts with two on. Castro fanned him on three pitches, throwing fastballs at 99 and 98 mph to go ahead 0-2 before Bogaerts swung and missed at a slider at 87 mph.

Santander got those two runs back for the Orioles with a two-run double to right in the top of the seventh for a 7-2 lead. When Richard Bleier maneuvered through the top of the order in the last of the seventh, order was restored and Cobb was on the way to his win.

Less than 24 hours after a dud performance, the Orioles had their first victory of 2020.