Rookie Grayson Rodriguez pitched five shutout innings for his first career victory and the Baltimore Orioles gained a split of Saturday’s doubleheader by defeating the host Detroit Tigers 6-4 in the second game.
Rodriguez, a 23-year-old right-hander who is one of the top pitching prospects in the game, made four previous starts without a decision this year. He allowed two hits and struck out nine with one walk.
Ryan McKenna homered and drove in three runs as the Orioles have won 10 of their last 12 games.
The Tigers won the opener of the twin bill, never trailing in a 7-4 result. The doubleheader was needed after Friday’s postponement.
Trailing 6-0, Detroit scored four runs in the sixth before the Orioles recorded an out, capped by pinch hitter Tyler Nevin’s three-run home run against his former team. That long ball came off Mike Baumann, who replaced Keegan Akin. Akin didn’t retire any of the three batters he faced.
The Tigers had only one base runner across the final three innings, coming on Matt Vierling’s leadoff single in the seventh. Baltimore relievers retired the final nine batters, with Felix Bautista recording his seventh save by working a perfect ninth.
Detroit was limited to five hits in the game after producing 16 hits in the game earlier in the day. There were seven Baltimore pitchers used in the second game.
Matthew Boyd (1-2) was the losing pitcher, giving up six runs and eight hits in 5 2/3 innings.
McKenna, Joey Ortiz and Austin Hays had run-scoring singles in Baltimore’s second inning. Neither McKenna nor Ortiz had a hit in the first game of the day, both going 0-for-2.
Boyd’s wild pitch turned the second inning into a four-run burst for the Orioles. McKenna added a two-run blast for his first homer of the season in the sixth.
Adley Rutschman and Hays both joined McKenna with two hits.
–Field Level Media
