They’ve done it again. Specifically, the Baltimore Orioles have won another game. This time, it was a 7-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs in Wrigley Field. It was the 10th win in a row for the Orioles, which is one of the longest winning streaks in franchise history and the longest since they won 13 straight in 1999.
It didn’t take long for the Orioles to grab a lead Wednesday. Anthony Santander doubled home two runs in the first and then scored on an Austin Hays single and it was 3-0 before the Cubs even batted. Trey Mancini and Adley Rutschman would add RBI doubles later in the game — Rutschman’s was then followed by two more tack-on runs — while the Orioles’ pitching staff again threw the ball very well.
Starter Spenser Watkins allowed just a run in five innings of work and then the bullpen did its thing. During the 10-game winning streak, Orioles pitchers have given up zero or one run five times. They entered Wednesday fifth in the majors in bullpen ERA, too.
The win moved the Orioles to 45-44, meaning the entire AL East is now above .500 and this is the latest in a season the Orioles have been over .500 since they were 71-70 on Sept. 8, 2017. They are now only two wins away from matching their 2018 total, seven away from 2021 and nine away from 2019. They still have 73 games left on the schedule.
As far as the winning streaks, here are the five longest in franchise history.
- 14 games – Aug. 12-27, 1973
14 games – July 23-Aug. 4, 1916 (they were the St. Louis Browns then) - 13 games – Sept. 7-22, 1999
13 games – May 31-June 14, 1978 - 11 games – July 12-25, 1987
The current 10-game streak is tied with seven others for the sixth-longest in franchise history. They’ll be off on Thursday before starting a road series against the Rays on Friday.
The Orioles are still in last place in the AL East, but they are also only two games back of the third AL wild card. It’s just a loaded division.
KVSP