Ex-Royals first baseman Ryan O’Hearn is thrilled to be making playoff push with Orioles
The American League East race could be all but decided this weekend in Baltimore.
Tampa Bay opened a four-game series against the Orioles on Thursday, and the Rays picked up a big 4-3 victory at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. That cut Baltimore’s lead over the Rays to one game in the AL East.
Baltimore got on the board first when Ryan O’Hearn crushed a home run to right-center field, to the delight of the 24,835 fans in attendance.
That was O’Hearn’s 13th home run of the season, one shy of his career best. He hit 14 in 2019 with the Royals.
O’Hearn was drafted by and played five seasons with the Royals before he was traded to the Orioles for cash considerations in January. He’s enjoying his best season since a 44-game stint as a rookie with the Royals in 2018.
In 96 games with Baltimore, O’Hearn already has reached career highs in hits (87), doubles (19) and RBIs (54). He’s also stolen four bases after not swiping any with the Royals.
Nathan Ruiz, who covers the Orioles for the Baltimore Sun, noted nine of O’Hearn’s home runs this season, including each of the past six, have either tied the game or given his team the lead.
Beyond the success on the field, O’Hearn is happy just to be playing games that mean something in September. Baltimore has the best record in the American League at 91-55 and, barring a complete collapse, should at least make the postseason field as a wild card.
Ahead of the series with the Rays, O’Hearn was asked on SiriusXM’s MLB Network Radio about playing in games with postseason implications.
“This is what you dream about as a kid. I keep saying that but it’s so true,” O’Hearn said. “I haven’t had the privilege to be able to play in meaningful games down the stretch in September, let alone October. So this is something that I can’t even explain how excited I am for it.
“Camden Yards is electric when it’s rocking. We had a series earlier this year against the Yankees and there were two nationally televised games and the place was incredible, 45,000 people just loud and locked it on every pitch, and I can’t wait to experience that again, man. There’s nothing like it. It’s just the height of baseball: every pitch matters, every pitch is cheered and obviously everybody on the team knows the implications and knows how big this series is.”
But O’Hearn also cautioned against getting too hyped up for the series.
“At the same time as a player, you can’t buy too much into that because you’ll like psych yourself out,” he said. “I think we have to look at it as another game and obviously we want to win every game we play. But I think the atmosphere will provide that energy and the intensity, and it’s gonna be fun to be a part of and I can’t wait.”
Here is part of that interview.
