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Leading off the second inning Friday at Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Toronto Blues Jays' Yohendrick Pinango connected on a drive to left field. Reacting quickly, Baltimore Orioles' Taylor Ward dived, reaching out to snare the liner.
Not to be outdone Saturday, Ward hustled back to the left-field wall, reached up and stole a potential home run from Kazuma Okamoto. In the ninth inning, Ward scored the winning run as the Orioles capped a historic comeback, earning a 6-5 win. The Blue Jays yielded five ninth-inning runs as the Orioles secured their first win in 368 straight outings when they trailed by at least four runs entering the final half-inning.
Ward continues to make plays, making him one of the top players on the MLB trade market this summer.
Orioles' Taylor Ward making offensive, defensive plays count
The 2012 31st-round draft pick continues to exceed expectations. Owning a career 11.5 WAR rating, Taylor signed a one-year, $12.175 million deal in the offseason. After connecting on a combined 61 homers the previous two campaigns with the Los Angeles Angels, Ward slammed just two homers during his opening 260 plate appearances this season, but compiled a .256 batting average and a career-best .400 on-base percentage.
Leading off the first inning with a walk Saturday, Ward became the first franchise player to post 52 walks through 58 games in a season.
Ward continues to prove one of the league's toughest batters, listed No. 4 by seeing an average of 4.37 pitches per plate appearance. Houston Astros Isaac Paredes, another top trade candidate, ranked first (4.46 P/PA).
The Orioles traded pitching prospect Gayson Rodriguez to the Angels for Ward. Will general manager Mike Elias grow to regret the transaction if he fails to engineer another deal involving Ward this summer?
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