If anyone expected the Baltimore Orioles to suffer a hangover from Sunday’s Postseason Clinching celebration, they were sadly mistaken Monday evening. In a back and forth affair (the lead changed hands 4 times), the Orioles came back from a 2 run deficit entering the ninth inning to emerge 8-7 winners over the Houston Astros. The win in Houston was a bit ironic since the Minute Maid Park batter’s eye was recently altered in the hopes of helping the Astros who had a 38-37 record at home entering play on Monday.

The three-run game-winning ninth started with one out singles by both Ryan O’Hearn (5 for 5, 1 2B, 1 R, 2 RBI) and Austin Hays (1 for 4, 1 R, 1 BB). A day removed from knocking in the Postseason clinching run, Cedric Mullins (2 for 5, 1 HR, 2 R, 4 RBI) deposited a 91 mph Ryan Pressly slider 425 ft. into right-center field for a three-run homerun.

O’Hearn knocked in both Jorge Mateo (1 for 3, 1 R) and Gunnar Henderson (3 for 5, 1 3B, 3 R) in the fifth inning and singled in the two-run seventh but was thrown out at home on Mullins’ double.

Manager Brandon Hyde pushed every button he could by using 13 position players in the game.

Adley Rutschman went 1 for 4 with a double, 1 run scored and 2 RBI.

Heston Kjerstad went 2 for 5.

Aaron Hicks went 1 for 4 with a walk.

Lost in all the offensive excitement was the 5.0 inning, 1 run, 4 hit, 3 walk, 1 strikeout start John Means gave the team.

Shintaro Fujinami allowed 3 runs on 3 hit in one-third of an inning.

Mike Baumann (10-1) allowed 1 run on 1 hit (1 HR) over 1.1 innings to get credit for the win.

Yennier Cano (0.1 IP) earned his seventh save when he struck out Chas McCormick swinging on a 92 mph changeup to end the game.

BOX SCORE

2023 Record: 94-56 Magic Number: 9

Next Game: Tues. 9/19 @ 8:10 pm vs. Astros in Houston

Kyle Gibson vs. Hunter Brown

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