St. Patrick’s Day saw the Baltimore Orioles play two split squad games, one hosting the Atlanta Braves in Sarasota and the other, visiting the Detroit Tigers in Lakeland. The results were mixed, an 8-2 win over the Braves and a 4-4 tie with the Tigers. The two games did have one thing in common however, each game had an Oriole with 4 RBI.
In Lakeland it was all Kyle Stowers. Hitting homeruns in the second, fourth and seventh innings, Stowers was the team’s offense, finishing with a line of 3 for 3, 3 HR, 3 R, 4 RBI. If the Orioles could have gotten a few more hits the result might have been different.
Colton Cowser went 1 for 4 with a double.
Angel Tejada (pinch hitting for Stowers) went 1 for 1 with a triple.
Julio Teheran started and allowed 1 run on 5 hits while walking 1 and striking out 5 in 4.0 innings. Cionel Perez (1.0 IP, H, BB, K), Dillon Tate (1.0 IP) and Bryan Baker (1.0 IP, K) all were solid.
Had it not been for Andrew Suarez (2.0 IP, 3 R, 3 H, BB, K, WP) and the two eighth inning homeruns he gave up, Stowers might have been enough for the O’s to beat the Tigers.
Atlanta’s Austin Riley homered off of starter Tyler Wells (4.2 IP, R, 4 H, 6 K) in the first inning in Sarasota. Wells bounced back from that homerun to put in a solid effort. Atlanta extended their lead to 2-0 in the seventh inning at the expense of Yennier Cano (1.0 IP, R, 3 H).
John Rhodes (2 for 2, 2 HR, 2 R, 4 RBI) tied the game in the seventh with the first of his two two-run homeruns. His second two-run homer was a part of Baltimore’s six run eighth. Knocking in runs in that outburst were Gunnar Henderson (1 for 4, 2B, RBI), Michael Perez (1 for 1, 2B, 2 R, 2 RBI) and Coby Mayo (1 for 4, 2B, RBI).
Jackson Holliday went 1 for 3 with a double, 1 run scored and a walk.
Danny Coulombe (1.0 IP, H, 2 K) and Keegan Akin (1.0 IP, 2 K) had good outings.
Mike Baumann (1-0) allowed 1 hit and struck out 1 in 1.0 inning to get the win.
