A pair of AL East rivals squared off on Saturday night as the Boston Red Sox traveled to Baltimore to take on the Orioles. Despite the Sox getting a sterling start from Nathan Eovaldi, they were unable to beat the worst team in the divison, and Baltimore was able to come out on top, 2-1, in extra innings.
Hirokazu Sawamura was on the bump for Boston in the bottom of the 10th inning, while the Orioles put Jorge Mateo in the game as the team’s ghost runner on second. After an intentional walk to Ryan McKenna, veteran catcher Robinson Chirinos stepped to the plate and planned to bunt to advance the runners.
While he put the ball in play, Sawamura was able to pounce on it and throw over to third base. The issue was he airmailed Rafael Devers, sending the ball into left field and letting Mateo jog towards home.
OK WE’LL TAKE IT pic.twitter.com/cnNlHherjW
— Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) May 1, 2022
The win marked Baltimore’s first against an AL East rival that wasn’t the Yankees this season, and meant that Sunday afternoon’s game between themselves and the Red Sox will be a rubber match to determine who wins this three-game series. Our hunch is it won’t end on a walk-off bunt with an error, but hey, you can’t predict baseball.