In a surprising 76-71 season in Baltimore, the Orioles might have the makings of a bright future if they stay patient. Should Baltimore evolve into a bona fide contender in the coming years, it might happen thanks to the efforts of young players like baseball’s former No. 1 prospect Adley Rutschman and burger-loving Gunnar Henderson.
On Tuesday night against the Tigers (-1.5), the pair “teamed up” on a wild bobble that almost became a complete disaster for Baltimore. When Detroit’s Willi Castro sent a ball up into the air for what should have been an easy pop-up out for the Orioles, Rutschman and Henderson both found themselves in a position to make a play.
The bad news is that the miscommunication led to a bobble from Rutschman when Henderson’s glove and arm weren’t quite out of his way. The good news is that Rutschman showed impeccable concentration to somehow keep this ball from hitting the ground:
teamwork 🤗 pic.twitter.com/wTtNCDAsMe
— Cut4 (@Cut4) September 21, 2022
Wow. How Rutschman manages to stay with the ball after that bobble, I don’t know. Credit to him for salvaging the accident and keeping the easy out in the Orioles’ back pocket. For his own efforts, Henderson would later hit his first-ever home run at Camden Yards:
GUNNAR'S FIRST OPACY HOME RUN IS LONG GONE 💣 pic.twitter.com/qRpw6be1sw
— Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) September 21, 2022
While Baltimore would eventually lose 3-2, it certainly wasn’t because two of their bright young players didn’t come to play.
MLB fans loved seeing Rutschman salvage the wild bobble for the Orioles
— Yoko (@raspberryyoko) September 21, 2022
Would've been foul, but still, pretty sic concentration and recovery https://t.co/jkwmqSxGJK
— Chris McCosky (@cmccosky) September 21, 2022
This is obvz why Gunnar and Adley are the best https://t.co/pL3X0h4F3b
— Heather Linington-Noble (@AlainnFocail) September 21, 2022
Same energy pic.twitter.com/jZEI7C0DPG
— ꜰᴡꜱ (@FletchWasSafe) September 21, 2022
Nice play by Rutschman
— Daniel Jackett (@daniel_jackett) September 21, 2022
Adley Rutschman (and Gunnar Henderson, kind of) just made a wild, stumbling play to nab a popup: pic.twitter.com/HVOtAVck85
— Zachary Silver (@zachsilver) September 21, 2022
All's well that ends well.
But you guys are gonna be playing together for a lonnnng time…. So you'd best learn to communicate. 😉#orioles https://t.co/gSivy93JYc
— Larry Kunz (@larry_kunz) September 21, 2022
I SAID BEST CATCHER IN BASEBALL https://t.co/dU0npQG2QU
— Christina C.⚽ (@ccharikofsky) September 21, 2022
https://t.co/H6LfFdw04I pic.twitter.com/NZ1Dp3EbqG
— Prospects Live (@ProspectsLive) September 21, 2022
