Notes on the comeback win, Grayson Rodriguez and more

The Red Sox have been playing winning baseball and scoring a lot of runs lately. They scored six early runs last night to lead the Orioles 6-0 after two innings. By the end of the sixth, Boston was ahead 8-2.

They were, or so they thought, well on their way to their eighth win in nine games and 12th in the past 16. The Red Sox had been 6-1 in their previous seven home games and had won four straight series, beating the Rangers, Astros, Mariners and the White Sox. They were averaging 7.5 runs per game in the last 15 games and their plus-26 run differential in May was fourth-best in MLB.

Then, Boston allowed 10 runs the last three innings as Baltimore rallied to win 12-8 last night. The Orioles scored three runs in the seventh to trail 8-5, three in the eighth to tie it and four in the ninth to put it away.

The last time the Orioles won when trailing by six at any point in a game was Aug. 14, 2016 at San Francisco. In that game, Baltimore trailed 7-1 after five and scored two in the seventh, two in the eighth and three in the ninth for an 8-7 victory.

The Orioles are now:

* 2-2 on their AL East road trip.
* 13-13 in the last 26 games.
* 3-1 versus Boston.
* 3-24 when trailing after seven innings. 

After right-hander Kyle Bradish allowed six hits and six runs over 1 2/3 innings, the Orioles used six bullpen pitchers that combined to give up two runs over 7 1/3 innings last night. Beau Sulser went three innings, Marcos Diplán two, Logan Gillaspie got one out and Dillon Tate got two before Cionel Pérez got one out on one pitch to get the win and Jorge López pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth on 12 pitches. Since the Orioles went from six runs down to four ahead, López actually came on in a non-save situation.

What a comeback win for the Orioles and what a way to begin a five-game, four-day series that continues with today's day-night doubleheader.

Grayson rolls again: Once again, O's top pitching prospect Grayson Rodriguez was dealing for Triple-A Norfolk last night, looking every bit of a pitcher ready to make his MLB debut.

Rodriguez threw seven scoreless innings, allowing just two hits as Norfolk beat Gwinnett 5-2 at Harbor Park. Rodriguez walked none and fanned 10 on 88 pitches, 68 for strikes. He improved to 5-1 with a 2.32 ERA, allowing zero runs for the fifth time in 10 starts and two earned runs or less for the eighth time.

What made the outing even more impressive is that Gwinnett was the one team that hit him around a bit earlier this year. When Rodriguez faced them on both April 26 and May 1, he went a combined 7 1/3 innings, allowing eight runs. But they were no match for him last night.

In his past five starts, Rodriguez is 3-0 with an ERA of 0.94. Over 28 2/3 innings, he has given up 14 hits and three runs with nine walks to 43 strikeouts. 

In those five games, his pitch counts were 82, 81, 87, 86 and 88.

I say, yet again, whenever the Orioles are ready to bring him up, baseball's top-ranked pitching prospect is ready to join them. And maybe even have instant success. 

Also on the farm last night, Double-A Bowie lost 5-0 at home to Erie in a rain-shortened six-inning game. The Baysox have been outscored 35-6 while losing all four games in this series. They are just 1-13 in the last 14 games.

High Single-A Aberdeen beat Wilmington 5-4 when Jacob Teter hit a go-ahead, two-run homer in the ninth as part of a three-RBI day. Aberdeen (29-12) stole four more bases in four attempts.

Low Single-A Delmarva lost 12-6 at Charleston.