BALTIMORE—The Orioles continued their celebration of the 1983 World Series championship team by winning their second straight game with players from that group in attendance.
A sellout crowd of 44,326, the third sellout of the season at Camden Yards, watched as starter Kyle Gibson allowed three runs on four hits in seven innings as the Orioles defeated the New York Mets, 7-3, on Saturday night.
“What a great atmosphere tonight,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “The energy in the ballpark the entire game was fantastic. It’s fun to see that top deck in left field filled, and it was super loud. We’re playing exciting baseball and our guys are feeding off it.”
It was the sixth win in seven games for the Orioles (69-42), who lead the Tampa Bay Rays by three games in the American League East.
“Any time you can celebrate a World Series team, you get a lot of people in the stands, and you already have a buzz going on,” Gibson said. “You’ve got a lot of big names and cool people in the stands, too. A lot of baseball people who’ve accomplished way more in this game than we have.”
Jeff McNeil had three RBIs against Gibson (11-6), on a two-run home run in the fourth and an RBI single in the sixth.
It was the 100th win for Gibson.
“Any time you get to a milestone … pretty cool,” Gibson said. “You get the chance to look back and realize it’s been a long road to get here. I told the guys after the game I think I’ve got [97] losses, so glad to get to 100 wins before 100 losses.”
Gibson retired the first nine batters, striking out six. Overall, Gibson struck out nine and walked one, Brett Baty, his next-to-last hitter in the seventh.
“Sometimes they come in bunches,” Gibson said of his strikeouts. “I know my changeup has been better the last five or six starts. That helps. My slider has always been my pitch, my whole career. Changing the shape of it a little bit here this last year has thrown in a wrinkle. I’ve faced so many guys so many times that if you can find something that moves a little differently, it can throw them off.”
Gunnar Henderson hit his 19th home run of the season in the first inning against Tylor Megill (6-5).
Ryan O’Hearn’s single scored Anthony Santander in the third, and Ramón Urías’ RBI double in the fourth gave the Orioles a 4-2 lead.
Santander hit his 20th home run in the fifth, and it was 5-2.
Ryan McKenna’s double scored Colton Cowser to give the Orioles a 6-3 lead.
Adley Rutschman’s eighth-inning double scored Cowser, who singled and stole the first base of his major league career.
The Orioles are 27 games over .500, their most since the end of the 2014 season.
“I’m not getting too ahead of myself,” Hyde said. “Stay game-to-game, and just want us to play well the rest of the way and worry about tomorrow’s game at 1:35 … One foot in front of the other right now and take it game-to-game.”
Notes: Jorge Mateo played the final two innings in center field, the first time he’s played there with the Orioles. … Kyle Bradish (7-6, 3.32) will face José Quintana (0-2, 3.57) on Sunday at 1:35 p.m.
Minor league update: Tyler Wells allowed one run on two hits in 3 1/3 innings, walking one and striking out two in Double-A Bowie’s 9-4 win over Portland.
Centerfielder Cedric Mullins was 1-for-6 in his first game of a rehab assignment, and shortstop Jackson Holliday had four hits and homered.
Second baseman Connor Norby and rightfielder Josh Lester each drove in two runs as Triple-A Norfolk beat Charlotte, 8-2, in the first game of a doubleheader.
DL Hall (1-1) allowed one hit in two scoreless innings, striking out five. Hall was just brought back from a nearly two-month stint in Sarasota.
Rightfielder Kyle Stowers had three hits and hit his 10th home run in the Tides’ 6-2 win in the second game.
Shortstop Collin Burns drove in two runs in High-A Aberdeen’s 12-5 loss to Hickory.
Centerfielder Stiven Acevedo drove in two runs as Single-A Delmarva beat Lynchburg, 6-3.