O's losing streak ends as farm teams sweep the night

By Steve Melewski

Orioles

June 01, 2021, 8:33pm

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A win, finally a win for the Orioles to provide a sense of both excitement and relief around Birdland.

The clutch hits finally came and lefty starter Bruce Zimmermann used them to pick up the win. Back on May 16, when the Orioles last won before last night, Zimmermann was also the winning pitcher.

That victory came out of the bullpen. This one he got as a starter as he allowed two runs and six hits over 5 1/3 innings with two walks and a career-high seven strikeouts. He is now 3-3 with a 4.96 ERA. Zimmerman became the second Maryland-born Orioles starting pitcher to earn a win at Oriole Park at Camden Yards, joining Steve Johnson in 2012.

"We were so close the past four or five games," Zimmermann said. "It was like we were just missing a pitch here and a hit there. So going into this game, it was the same thing. We were in attack mode. The bats showed up and they performed for us, the defense made plays when they needed to and the pitchers got outs in big situations, so it kind of all synched up, finally, for us and it was just a really, really good team win."

Center fielder Cedric Mullins made a remarkable catch in deep right-center in the top of the third, and he ignited the lineup with a triple and scored in the first. He then had a single, a stolen base and a run scored during the four-run last of the third. Mullins, now batting .299, recorded his 15th multi-hit game and sixth game scoring two or more runs.

The Orioles had a dramatic change for the better, going 4-for-7 with runners in scoring position. They had been 1-for-32 with RISP over the last five games, and 5-for-64 the previous eight games.

Mancini went 2-for-2 with RISP his first two times up. He's now batting .375 (24-for-64) with RISP, the best mark on the club. His 22 hits with RISP entering last night were tied for most in the majors. Mancini now has 44 RBIs, and that ranks third-best in the majors.

"Last two weeks, obviously, were not great," Mancini said. "It was just a really strange streak. I know Hyder (manager Brandon Hyde) alluded to it earlier, but most of those games we were in, and whether things didn't bounce our way, we were all pressing. ... Tonight, we let it all go. It was June 1, kind of a natural reset for us. We all decided to forget about May and come out strong in June.

"It's a good time in there right now. The music's blasting louder than I think I've ever heard it in there, to tell the truth. It's fun. We're definitely enjoying it."

It was indeed a night for the Orioles to enjoy a win for the first time in a while. Tonight if they get the victory, they will have a series win as well.

Orioles farm sweep: Birdland went 5-0 Tuesday as the four O's farm teams won too.

Triple-A Norfolk beat Durham 6-5. Since beginning the year 3-14, Norfolk has won six of its last seven. Ryan Ripken contributed an RBI double and Malquin Canelo drove in two runs. Dean Kremer gave up one earned run and two hits in four innings.

Double-A Bowie is now 18-5 after winning 7-2 at Hartford. Johnny Rizer had three hits in his Double-A debut while Robert Neustrom hit his second homer and Joey Ortiz belted his first. Winning pitcher Cameron Bishop fanned a career-high 12 in five scoreless innings.

Shortstop Jordan Westburg contributed a big hit in his debut with high Single-A Aberdeen, which beat Hickory 8-3. He ripped a three-run double and went 1-for-3. J.D. Mundy, in his first Aberdeen game, hit a solo homer among four at-bats. The IronBirds are 16-7.

Low Single-A Delmarva beat Fredericksburg 9-4 and is now 18-6. Gunnar Henderson hit a two-run homer and went 2-for-4 with four RBIs and leads all of minor league baseball with 34 RBIs. The Henderson homer was the sixth he has hit among his seven to the opposite field, as this blast went out to left-center.

The O's four farm teams are now a combined 61-33 (.649). Bowie, Aberdeen and Delmarva are a combined 52-18 (.743).