On the 160th day, they rested.
Well, not exactly. The Orioles still had to play the Boston Red Sox on Friday, less than 24 hours after they popped corks and fired up cigars to celebrate clinching their first American League East championship since 2014. But after fighting tooth and nail for 159 games to capture baseball’s most competitive division, they finally came to Camden Yards facing minimal pressing business.
With their 2-0 victory Thursday night, they also clinched home-field advantage all the way to at least the World Series. They knew they would not have to play another high-stakes game until Oct. 7.
The Orioles (100-60) did not win Friday despite another sharp outing from starter John Means, falling 3-0 to a Red Sox team that also had little at stake. None of the patrons at Camden Yards seemed to care much, treating the evening as a casual opportunity to celebrate a team that has already accomplished so much.
It was a brand of meaningless September baseball the Orioles were happy to play.
“It’s a great feeling to be able to go out there and play as loose as you can possibly play,” said infielder Gunnar Henderson, who joined catcher Adley Rutschman (he and third baseman Ramón Urías were “under the weather,” the team said) in receiving a night off. “There’s really no weight on these games. That’ll be cool, because you know what’s ahead in the playoff picture. We can just go out there and enjoy it.”
After the previous night’s festivities, Henderson woke at 10 a.m., secure in the knowledge that his first full season had coincided with the Orioles’ most successful year in almost a decade. “That’s a pretty cool thing,” he said. “The Rays got off to the start they did, and it felt like we were just climbing the whole way. Once we finally got ahead of them, seems like we never looked back.”
U2′s “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” played in the background, a subtle reminder perhaps that Thursday night’s celebration was just the beginning of what the Orioles aim to accomplish.
Manager Brandon Hyde laughed when asked if it was strange to come to Camden Yards without an urgent need to win.
“We have some guys who could really use some time off,” he said before the game, looking ahead to the rare five days without a game the Orioles will have after they finish the regular season Sunday.
“Last night was special, so today, you reflect a little bit in the morning, but then you still have a job to do tonight. I still want to play well. I want to play to win.”
Friday’s game, however, would be more about details.
How was first baseman Ryan Mountcastle’s injured shoulder coming along with only a few games left to prepare for the postseason? “Good enough to go out there and play,” Mountcastle, who came off the injured list Wednesday, said before the game, in which he singled twice.
Hyde was intrigued to see what powerful rookie outfielder Heston Kjerstad, who had played sparingly over the previous week, would do with four or five plate appearances.
He wanted to know if Means, starting just his fourth game for the Orioles this season, could build off his one-hit masterpiece in Cleveland six days earlier.
The answer to that one was mostly yes as Means mixed four pitches and worked ahead in the count to cut through the first 13 Red Sox hitters of the evening. Left fielder Rob Refsnyder got to him with a double down the third base line, and shortstop Trevor Story followed with a two-run blast into the left field seats to put Boston up 2-0 in the top of the fifth.
“Good swing on a bad changeup,” Means said.
He ultimately worked through 6 1/3 innings on 82 pitches, 58 of them strikes, allowing three hits and walking none while striking out four.
“They were really aggressive early in the count and he got a lot of early-count outs there, especially the first third of the game,” Hyde said. “But he threw a really good changeup again and I thought he located his fastball well.”
The Orioles were not sure what to expect when Means returned from Tommy John elbow reconstruction earlier this month, but he has made a strong case to be part of their postseason starting rotation.
“I feel like 99% of my pitches are right where I want them,” he said. “I feel like I’ve gotten better as I went.”
The Orioles, in turn, could not do much with Red Sox starter Nick Pivetta, who shut them out over seven innings, allowing just two hits and striking out 10.
“We seem to struggle [with him],” Hyde said. “He’s got really good stuff. We just didn’t take very many good at-bats and didn’t hit many balls hard on him, but I thought he was keeping us really off balance.”
Red Sox at Orioles
Saturday, 7:15 p.m.
TV: Chs. 45, 5
Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM
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