Chirinos drives in three as O's top Angels, 5-3
The Baltimore Orioles took the first in a three-game series against the Angels Friday night on the back of a three RBI performance from catcher Robinson Chirinos.
The O's struck almost immediately, putting up two runs in the top of the second on a Chirinos single, which drove in Anthony Santander and Luis Urias.
Halos starter Reid Detmers (0-1, 6.57 ERA) recovered from the 24 pitch second inning nicely, cruising through three shutout innings before getting the hook in the top of the sixth inning.
It was then that the Orioles blew it open against reliever Archie Bradley, who allowed the first four men of the inning to reach base via hit. Santander drove one in on a single, Urias followed with an RBI groundout and Chirinos tacked on their third run of the inning on his own RBI groundout, putting Baltimore up 5-0.
The Angels attempt to claw back was cut short despite scoring three runs over the next two innings, one on an Andrew Velasquez sac fly in the bottom of the sixth, and two on Anthony Rendon's second homer of the year - a towering, two-run, 419 foot blast to left field.
All three of the runs were credited to Orioles starter Bruce Zimmerman (1-0, 1.20 ERA), who went 6.0 innings, allowing five hits and three runs - two earned - with six strikeouts and one walk, earning the victory.
Baltimore got three clean innings from their relievers in Felix Bautista, Cionel Perez and Jorge Lopez - who earned the save, striking out to Angels.
Mike Trout returned from his three-game hiatus Friday, after getting plunked in the left hand during Sunday's matchup against the Texas Rangers. Negative X-Rays kept him off the Injured List as he recovered over the week, which saw the Halos take two out of three from the Houston Astros.
In Friday's game against the O's, Trout was 1-for-3 with a walk and a run scored.
The Angels were 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position on Friday, and grounded into four double plays, keeping their scoring opportunities to a minimum.
Both teams will matchup again Saturday at 6:07 p.m. with the Halos sending Noah Syndergaard (2-0, 1.59 ERA) against the Orioles Spenser Watkins (0-0, 2.25 ERA).