Baltimore Orioles Make Franchise History With Epic Sweep

The Baltimore Orioles made franchise history with their sweep of the Tampa Bay Rays.

Jun 10, 2024; St. Petersburg, Florida, USA; Baltimore Orioles shortstop Gunnar Henderson (2) is congratulated by outfielder Anthony Santander (25). / Kim Klement Neitzel-USA TODAY Sports

The Baltimore Orioles have been setting a lot of franchise records lately, especially down in Florida.

On Sunday, the Orioles had a grand slam and three triples in the same game for the first time ever. On Monday, they enjoyed another first by finishing off a four-game road sweep of the Tampa Bay Rays, their first sweep at Tropicana Field in team history.

Granted, the Rays haven't been playing great baseball this year, and are currently last in the AL East, but it's still impressive, especially considering Baltimore swept a four-game road series during a brutal part of its schedule.

Winning four straight games at any point is difficult, especially against a division rival on the road.

The Orioles win 5-2 over the Rays.

Corbin Burnes is a Cy Young front-runner. Gunnar Henderson is an MVP front-runner. The Orioles might be the best team in baseball.

Baltimore is 43-22 and has swept a four-game series at "The Trop" for the first time in club history.

— Jacob Calvin Meyer (@jcalvinmeyer) June 11, 2024

The Orioles dominated the series, winning every game by multiple runs and outscoring Tampa Bay 25-7. They flourished on the mound and at the plate, getting four great performances from their starting pitchers and smashing multiple home runs in every game.

Baltimore opened the series with a 6-3 victory on Friday, going yard three times while Cole Irvin fell one out shy of a quality start. Saturday's 5-0 blanking featured a dominant pitching performance from the Orioles, who yielded just two hits (both singles) and no walks while racking up 14 strikeouts. Kyle Bradish led the charge with six innings of one-hit ball while the offense clubbed a pair of homers.

Baltimore continued to flex its power muscles on Sunday, swatting two more homers along with three triples and two doubles. The Orioles pounded out 13 hits and rolled to a 9-2 win behind Grayson Rodriguez, who also fell one out short of a quality start.

Monday's finale featured another gem from Corbin Burnes, who continued to build his AL Cy Young case with no earned runs allowed over seven innings. He got more than enough run support as Baltimore tallied 11 hits (including two homers) en route to a 5-2 victory.

That makes the second four-game sweep of the season for the Orioles, who also took four in a row from the Minnesota Twins at home in mid-April.

They're now 43-22 overall, including 22-10 on the road, 17-6 against the AL East and 6-1 against Tampa Bay. They're playing outstanding baseball at the moment in all facets of the game, going 7-3 to start June and winning 14 of their last 18.

Baltimore will hope that momentum carries over into this week's daunting six-game homestand, which begins on Tuesday night against the Atlanta Braves.

After three contests with the Braves, the Philadelphia Phillies come to town for a three-game weekend series in what could be a potential World Series preview.

If the Orioles keep playing like they did in Tampa Bay, they'll be just fine.