BALTIMORE — A misty, gray haze blanketed the Charm City on Tuesday morning. The steady rain, at first, felt like a good omen for the Orioles. That a team so wholly obsessed with water and its various states of flow woke up to a downpour on the day of its first postseason game this year seemed appropriate.
Over the past 18 months, water-related gambits and gimmicks have become an omnipresent part of the Orioles experience. Players mime faucets upon hitting a single, squirt water out of their mouths whenever a teammate knocks a double. A repurposed beer funnel dubbed “the hydration station” sits at the end of the dugout. Upon an O’s home run, players fill the contraption with water and celebratorily slurp it down. In left-center-field, a section of seats deemed “The Birdbath” is doused with a waterhose by a floatie-and-goggle-wearing character named Mr. Splash whenever the team tallies an extra-base hit.
Perhaps it was a foreboding omen that the drizzle subsided an hour or so before first pitch.
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On a day when ace Corbin Burnes delivered the playoff performance of a lifetime, allowing just one run over eight masterful innings, Baltimore’s offense ran bone-dry. Kansas City starter Cole Ragans baffled the Birds for six innings with a barrage of well-located heaters before exiting prematurely due to a calf issue. His bullpen finished the job, tossing a trio of scoreless frames and ensuring that the Orioles did not touch home.
The Royals scored just once, on a two-out RBI single from their supernova shortstop, Bobby Witt Jr. Third baseman Maikel Garcia, whose stolen base earlier in the inning proved crucial, scampered home to give Kansas City the lead. That was enough.
“As [Royals veteran outfielder] Tommy Pham says, whenever you allow the other team zero runs, you have a 99.999999 percent chance to win the ballgame,” Witt joked after his team’s 1-0 victory.
His rising to the moment should come as no surprise. The 24-year-old shortstop spent the entire regular season establishing himself as one of the game’s best players. Time and time again, he carried the Royals to victory. In many other seasons, his 32 home runs, 31 steals and .332 batting average with superb shortstop defense would earn him an MVP award. And his immense talent is matched only by his unfettered joy for the game, his rare, childlike…