Reimold gets a boost when he needs one
Nolan Reimold needed that. The Orioles’ longtime reserve outfielder stepped up with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning on a sizzling Sunday and drilled a two-run, pinch-hit walkoff home run to give the Orioles a 5-3 victory over the Cleveland Indians and a sweep of the three-game series at Camden Yards.
It had been a tough month for Reimold, who got off to a solid start at the plate this season but had managed just one hit since July 2 and had struck out six times in his previous three starts.
“I did feel lost the last couple days,” Reimold said. “I hate to say it happens, but it happens sometimes. You go in and out of feeling good. So I worked on some things. I tried to stay ready and, you know, you’ve got to break out some time.”
The pinch-hit walk-off was the first by an Orioles hitter since June 23, 2014, when Chris Davis launched one against the Chicago White Sox. It was the third walk-off homer of Reimold’s career and his fifth home run in 142 at-bats this season.
This one capped a strange but rewarding game for the Orioles in which Vance Worley stepped up in his fourth start of the season with a strong seven-inning performance, giving up just two runs on five hits.
“It was a lot better than the last” start,” Worley said. “I was able to Nolan Reimold tips his helmet after his walk-off pinch-hit home run Sunday against the Indians. go a little deeper, utilize all of my pitches and rely on my defense behind me. Overall, a good team win.”
Worley gave up two runs in the fourth inning on an RBI double by Tyler Naquin and a sacrifice fly by Roberto Perez. Those runs looked imposing with Indians starter Corey Kluber cruising early, but the Orioles answered with two runs in the bottom of the fourth on an RBI single by Manny Machado and a hustle-play RBI grounder by Pedro Alvarez.
The Orioles added a run on a solo homer by Jonathan Schoop and turned the game over to Brad Brach in the eighth, but he gave up a run for the second game in a row and the game came down to the ninth inning.
Darren O’Day got the announced crowd of 37,821 going by striking out the side in his first game back from a long stint on the disabled list and Alvarez reached base on a throwing error after a strange strikeout on a passed ball. Ryan Flaherty moved him up with a sacrifice bunt and Caleb Joseph struck out before Reimold got his moment in the hot sun. Don’t see that very often: Davis thought he had walked on what was actually a 2-2 pitch in the eighth inning and flipped away his bat, which would not have been a big deal if Machado hadn’t been fooled, too. He wandered off first base and was picked off by Indians catcher Roberto Perez. Hustle pays off again: On the day after Davis hustled out a potential double-play ball to key a three-run inning, Alvarez came up in a similar situation and did the same thing. He came up with runners on first and third in the fourth inning and bounced into a force play at second. He was originally called out on the relay to first, which would have ended the inning. The video replay showed he had barely beaten the throw, so the Orioles scored the tying run instead. The scoop on Schoop: Schoop continues to be one of the most consistent and productive hitters in the lineup. He kicked off the two-run rally by opening the fourth inning with a double off the left-center field fence and then hit a ball over the fence in the same area an inning later. With his 17th homer and 58th RBI, he’s on pace for 28 homers and 97 RBIs. When his home run landed in the fifth inning, Schoop had six total bases in the game and the rest of the team had just three.