East Texas’ Grayson Rodriguez Delivers in the Clutch For Orioles

Biggest Game of the Year

On Saturday, September 16, the Baltimore Orioles played their 148th game of the season. It was also their biggest game of the season.

On Thursday, Baltimore and Tampa Bay began a 4-game series. The Orioles lost the first two games of the series which placed the two teams in a first-place tie with about two weeks remaining in the regular season.

Baltimore desperately needed a win on Saturday. They gave the ball to their rookie pitcher, Grayson Rodriguez who played his high school ball at Central Heights High School.

Grayson's Awesome Performance

When the Orioles needed him the most, Grayson Rodriguez delivered the best performance of his Major League Baseball career.

The Nacogdoches County native pitched 8 shutout innings for Baltimore on their way to 8-0 victory. Rodriguez gave up only five hits, struck out seven, and did not walk a batter. HE WAS DOMINANT!

Grayson's longest outing previously had been 7 innings on August 14 when he picked up the win on the road against San Diego.

Watch Rodriguez get a celebratory ice bath after the game.

Two Big Takeaways

East Texans are ecstatic with Grayson's outstanding performance, but there are two major takeaways from tonight's game.

1. The Baltimore Orioles stopped their losing skid, regained some momentum, and retook first place in the American League East.
2. The Orioles learned how Grayson Rodriguez would respond in a high-pressure situation. With first place on the line, the former Blue Devil not only delivered, he dominated.

Bad News for the Houston Series

Baltimore has one more game with Tampa Bay before they travel to Minute Maid Park to take on the Houston Astros for a three-game series that begins on Monday. Anyone hoping to make the short trip to Houston to watch Grayson pitch will be disappointed.

Grayson is not scheduled to pitch again until the following series against Cleveland. I'm sure that Rodriguez would still love to see a lot of folks show up to Minute Maid wearing #30 jerseys to show their support for the rookie.