The Orioles went back-to-back-to-back in a ridiculous four-homer first inning
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The Orioles entered play on Friday the undisputed long ball champs of the league. They headed into the second game of their four-game set with the Astros having clubbed 183 homers through 120 games, nine more than the second-place Blue Jays. They even tacked on six more in Thursday's 13-5 win over Houston.
The use of the past tense above is key, considering the O's wasted no time adding to their power show on Friday with a quick start against Collin McHugh at Camden Yards -- after George Springercracked a leadoff homer to give Houston a 1-0 lead.
Adam Jones matched Springer with a leadoff bomb of his own, knotting things up at 1-1. After Hyun-Soo Kim singled, Manny Machado connected on a two-run shot, Chris Davis clubbed his 28th round-tripper to right-center, and, not to be outdone, Mark Trumbo launched a Trumbomb to dead center.
It was a wild scene:
The kind of scene that warrants this type of reaction from the dugout:
Per Statcast, Davis' 446-foot shot was the longest of his season to date ... eclipsing a very recent one:
As well as the realization that this was a record-setting display by Baltimore:
Because this game chose to be wildly unpredictable, the O's quick 5-1 lead was erased when Houston dropped a five-spot in the second to go back on top, 6-5, and by the fourth inning things were knotted up again at 7-7, both teams having already gone to the bullpen.
But wait, there were more #DINGERZ as the night went along. Houston smacked three more as the game rolled along (Jose Altuve, Evan Gattis and Teoscar Hernández), while the O's tacked on one more with a Pedro Álvarez solo shot. By the time the dust had settled, all nine moonshots had landed and the Astros had wrapped up a 15-8 win, another record had been set:
Baseball.