CHICAGO — Taylor Ward cannot be stopped, and during his first game hitting second rather than leadoff for the Orioles, the lineup maneuver from manager Craig Albernaz paid off.
Just to see what it would look like, Albernaz flipped Gunnar Henderson and Ward in the order. And, twice during Baltimore’s series-ending 5-3 win against the Chicago White Sox, Ward’s double drove in Henderson.
That was just part of Ward’s superb performance. He finished with four hits for the second time in his career — and second time this season — and became the first Orioles player to record nine doubles in an eight-game span.
The hitting clinic from Ward began in the third inning. He pulled yet another double into the left field corner, and Henderson chugged around the bases to score. It was just the start of a performance that shows why Ward might be the exact sort of lineup addition Baltimore needed.
The Orioles traded right-hander Grayson Rodriguez to the Los Angeles Angels to acquire Ward, and before the Pete Alonso signing, it appeared as though Ward was the major right-handed-hitting addition. Alonso, who has hit the ball hard routinely but has little to show for it, also doubled Wednesday.
But so far Ward has been the star, with an on-base-plus-slugging percentage of 1.038. And that’s without a home run to his name.
Ward launched a career-high 36 homers last year. That wasn’t his intention. Ward believes in the science of hitting, and his goal is to hit line drives over an infielder’s head. That way, if he misses slightly, strong contact that exits at around a 30-degree launch angle will be a homer and hard contact at a 10-degree angle can still shoot through the infield.
He prefers his launch angle to be 16-17 degrees.
“His home runs should be misses,” said Trent Woodward, Ward’s good friend who also serves as a hitting adviser. “His doubles are when we feel like he’s hitting his best.”
Ward, then, is hitting at his best currently. Just look at his three doubles.
Against right-hander Sean Burke, who is a University of Maryland product, Ward pulled a front-hit slider for a double, scoring Henderson from first. And Adley Rutschman’s groundout later in the third inning plated Ward.
In the seventh, Ward flipped a breaking ball into left field for his second double. And in the ninth he followed Henderson’s double with a gapper of his own that provided an insurance run and helped secure the series sweep, firmly leaving the three losses to Pittsburgh at the beginning of this road trip in the rearview mirror.
Alonso’s two-bagger in the sixth inning helped spur the Orioles to a .500 record, too. Tyler O’Neill followed with a single, Ryan Mountcastle walked, and a passed ball and Dylan Beavers sacrifice fly scored two runs.
Those breakthroughs covered for the three runs against right-hander Kyle Bradish across five innings. Bradish, making his third start of the year, completed five innings for the first time but still lacked some command. He struck out seven and walked three and, in the second inning, five straight hits led to two White Sox runs.
In the fifth, a mental mistake from Bradish may have been more costly had Baltimore not recovered the next inning. After walking a batter to load the bases, Bradish mishandled Rutschman’s toss back to the mound. He then didn’t hustle to pick up the ball, which allowed Chase Meidroth to race home from third.
Bradish was charged with two errors in that sequence — first the missed catch and another when he fired a throw home to the backstop, allowing the other runners to advance.
But that proved much less consequential because Ward just kept hitting.
It was a stunning display, and it only reinforces why Ward is here.