For a while, there has been no doubt the Baltimore Orioles would set a dubious record for the most home runs allowed in a season. It was just a matter of where and when.
That came early on Thursday night, when Tampa Bay’s Austin Meadows sent a drive sailing over the right field scoreboard at Camden Yards.
Much later, the Rays finished off a rain-delayed 5-2 win that ended shortly before 1am yesterday.
About 200 fans were left for the final out.
Meadows hit the record-setting 259th home run off Baltimore this year — the last-placed Orioles began the day tied with the 2016 Cincinnati Reds for the highest total in big league history.
Meadows connected in the third. A couple innings after that, Willy Adames added No. 260.
“I’m a broken record when it comes to homers we’ve given up,” first-year Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said. “I don’t know what to say except we have a lot of work to do with our pitchers.”
“Going forward, to be able to compete in this division and in the big leagues, you have to be able to keep the ball in the ballpark and we’ve had a tough time doing that this year,” he said.
The teams were tied at 2-2 when a downpour sent the game into a rain delay in the fifth inning.
When play resumed after 2 hours, 16 minutes, Adames had a two-run single off Miguel Castro (1-2) in the sixth.
Oliver Drake (2-1) earned the win by throwing 1-2/3 scoreless innings with a hit and two strikeouts. Emilio Pagan picked up his 14th save in 21 chances with a scoreless ninth.
The Orioles took a 2-0 lead on a double by Trey Mancini that drove in Hanser Alberto in the first. Mancini also scored on a throwing error by Adames from shortstop. That ended a streak of 17-2/3 scoreless innings by Tampa Bay left-hander Ryan Yarbrough.
Meadows hit a home run on a curveball by Orioles starter Asher Wojciechowski that made it 2-1. Adames tied it with another homer off Wojciechowski.
Adames has hit 13 of his 16 homers on the road.
“We talk about Willy hitting on the road and he seems to like it here,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “We’ve got six more ballgames on the road [on this trip]. Hopefully he can get hot and stay hot for us.”
Adames production helped make up for a couple miscues.
During the long break, he got a message on social media “where somebody said: ‘Hey, this game’s only had five minutes gone and you already have two errors,’” Adames said.
“In the rain delay, I read it and I was laughing,” he said. “That motivates me, but that’s not the best way to start a game.”
In other results, it was:
‧ Dodgers 3, Blue Jays 2
‧ Mets 2, Indians 0
‧ Athletics 5, Yankees 3
‧ Astros 6, Tigers 3
‧ White Sox 6, Rangers 1
‧ Red Sox 5, Royals 4
‧ Cubs 1, Giants 0
‧ Nationals 7, Pirates 1
‧ Cardinals 6, Rockies 5
‧ Braves 3, Marlins 2
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