Pirates bats wake up in 8-1 win over Orioles

Bryse Wilson turned in a serviceable performance on the mound, and Pirates bats were much livelier than they have been of late, and while the Orioles are definitely improving, they’re still not that great, which meant an 8-1 win for the Buccos this afternoon, their first win at Camden Yards since 2008.

Wilson was by no means perfect—the lone Orioles run came courtesy of a hanging curveball that Jorge Mateo poked into the short left field corner in the third innin, a pitch that has frequently gotten him in trouble previously. But he got run support. It started with Michael Chavis beating out a throw to first in the fifth inning, then Bligh Madris hitting a more legitimate single. But there would be no LOBsters here. Greg Allen, who has been much maligned of late, came through with a single that scored Chavis, while Cal Mitchell got Madris home. New catcher Jose Godoy got his first MLB RBI with a groundout that scored Allen.

And the hits, for a change, just kept on coming. In the sixth inning, Chavis hit a more definitive single, scoring Bryan Reynolds, who came out of his own slump this game (he walked here). In the seventh, Ke’Bryan Hayes hit a dink dinger of his own that barely cleared the centerfield wall—in fact at first it was thought a ground-rule double until replays showed the ball hitting a chain link fence behind the wall.

This was after Greg Allen was called out at home, but the challenge replay clearly showed Orioles catcher Robinson Chirinos blocking the plate. The play was overturned, obviously delighting Derek Shelton, who hasn’t had much luck with challenges as of late, and enraging Orioles manager Brandon Hyde, who got chucked for it. This was a rather eventful inning—Godoy had to leave the game after his hand cramped up, and B-Rey broke his RBI-less streak by getting Kevin Newman home (Newman is still swinging the hottest bat on the Pirates, and it was his single that brought Allen home).

Eric Stout looked good in relief of Wilson, and the Jolly Roger was metaphysically raised over the Yards.

Admittedly the Pirates have been hard to watch lately, and since Pirate fans have been watching the Orioles to see the progress the Pirates might make in the near future, this was still an interesting series to watch. Little things are coming together, really, they are.