The Baltimore Orioles grinded out a 6-5 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday afternoon, giving them the victory in their three-game set against their American League West foe, but it didn’t come without some controversy. And of course, the play in question involved none other than their hottest hitter at the plate in shortstop Gunnar Henderson.
After winning the American League Rookie of the Year award in 2023, Henderson has come out on fire to start the 2024 campaign (.309 BA, 8 HR, 20 RBI, 1.022 OPS). That continued against the Angels, where he went 3-3 with a home run, three runs batted in, and three runs scored. He also made the final out of the game, but it didn’t come without some controversy.
After allowing an unearned run earlier in the bottom of the ninth, Kimbrel walked Jo with two outs to put the tying run on base. immediately tried to steal second base, but he ended up getting thrown out by James McCann to end the game. Replays showed, though, that may have gotten to the bag before Henderson’s tag, enraging the Angels and their fans.
Despite the play getting reviewed, the umpires stood with the call on the field and ruled out, ending the game. After the contest, Henderson seemed to admit that Baltimore was fortunate to have gotten the initial call in their favor, because may have otherwise been ruled safe on the play.
“I felt like I got a good tag on him. It was really close. We’re very fortunate that they called it out on the field.” – Gunnar Henderson, ESPN
While the Angels still would have had to find a way to bring around to score, they were upset and felt like they got robbed of their chance to do so. Of course, it probably would have helped if they could have prevented Henderson from having another monster day at the plate before he ended up making this big play on defense.
While Baltimore has a collection of talented hitters in their lineup, Henderson is quickly emerging as the best of the bunch. As we saw with the stats above, he’s hitting at an extremely high clip right now, and at just 23 years old, he still has tons of room to grow. While there’s a lot to be excited about in regards to this up-and-coming Baltimore team, Henderson may just be the biggest draw of them all.
The O’s may have gotten a bit lucky with this call, but they certainly aren’t going to be complaining about that. With a 16-8 record, Baltimore appears set for a hard-fought battle atop the AL East with the New York Yankees throughout the year, and they will look to continue their winning ways in their upcoming three-game series with the Oakland Athletics.
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