August 6, 2008: Orioles drubbed in road trip finale, but rookie Luis Montañez makes history

The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and the Baltimore Orioles occupied opposite ends of the baseball universe in 2008. While the Orioles suffered an 11th consecutive losing season, the Angels were the majors’ lone 100-win team. Yet, when the teams played their final series of the summer, at Angel Stadium, they split the first two contests. Baltimore tied the Monday night opener with four unearned runs in the top of the ninth, only to lose on a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the frame. But the Orioles prevailed the next evening behind eight innings of one-hit, shutout work by Chris Waters, a 27-year-old southpaw making his major-league debut. Another Orioles rookie also made history in the series finale.

On a sunny, 83-degree Wednesday afternoon, Angels right-hander Ervin Santana attempted to spare his club the indignity of dropping a home set to the American League East’s last-place team. Santana, 12-5 with a 3.38 ERA entering the contest, had appeared in the All-Star Game three weeks earlier, and he ranked third in the AL in strikeouts. He held Baltimore scoreless in the top of the first, allowing just a one-out single by Alex Cintrón.

The Orioles’ starting pitcher was Garrett Olson, a rookie lefty with an 8-5 record and a 5.67 ERA. Ten days earlier in Baltimore, Olson had beaten Santana and the Angels, 5-2. Before becoming Baltimore’s 2005 first-round draft pick, Olson, 23, grew up in Clovis, California, and played his college ball at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo. The 40,130 spectators on hand to witness his first major-league appearance in Anaheim included about 30 of his family members and friends.1

Olson retired the first two batters, but after Mark Teixeira grounded an opposite-field single into right, future Hall of Famer Vladimir Guerrero pulled a two-run homer. Orioles manager Dave Trembley later said the pitch Guerrero crushed “looked like it was on a tee.”2 Before the inning ended, Torii Hunter drew a walk and Garret Anderson drove a run-scoring double to left-center, increasing the Angels’ lead to 3-0.

After Santana retired three straight Baltimore hitters in the top of the second, his catcher, Jeff Mathis, took Olson deep in the bottom of the inning to boost Anaheim’s advantage to four runs.

The game’s historic moment occurred when Luis Montañez, the Orioles’ 26-year-old left fielder, led off the top of the third. Montañez had produced Triple Crown numbers in Double A that season, but this was his first at-bat in the majors. After taking ball one, he connected with a 92-mph Santana fastball. Hunter, the Angels’ Gold Glove center fielder, turned around but quickly abandoned his pursuit. The baseball cleared the wall to the left of straightaway center and took one bounce into the Disney-imagined California Spectacular rock sculpture.3 “You never expect that, but you do envision this when you were a kid for your first at-bat,” Montañez said after the game. “You want to go deep, and it actually came true, so it’s real special.”4

Of all the players to wear Orioles uniforms since the St. Louis Browns franchise moved to Baltimore in 1954, only Buster Narum – a pitcher who finished his career with an .059 batting average – had homered in his first big-league at-bat. Through 2023, Narum and Montañez remained the only Orioles to achieve the feat.

Santana set down the next three Baltimore hitters, two by strikeout. Then the Angels kayoed Olson in the bottom of the third. Leading off, Teixeira grounded a double into the left-field corner. He wound up at third base after Montañez misplayed the ball for an error. After Guerrero walked and Hunter struck out, an Olson wild pitch allowed the Angels’ fifth run. Guerrero tallied Anaheim’s sixth score after Anderson singled up the middle. Three batters later, Baltimore called on reliever Lance Cormier to finish the inning without falling further behind.

The Orioles’ Aubrey Huff and Luke Scott each reached safely on infield hits in the top of the fourth, but Santana kept Baltimore from scoring by fanning Jay Payton for the third out.

The Angels scored three more times in their half of the inning. Chone Figgins drew a leadoff walk and stole second. Erick Aybar got an infield single and Teixeira walked to load the bases. That brought up Guerrero, who lifted an opposite-field hit. Although Baltimore right fielder Nick Markakis cut Guerrero down at second base when he attempted to stretch the hit into a double, Guerrero collected his third and fourth RBIs of the day. Teixeira wound up on third base and made it 9-1 when he scored on Hunter’s sacrifice fly to center. Southpaw Alberto Castillo, a 33-year-old rookie, became Baltimore’s third pitcher of the game before the inning ended.

In the top of the fifth, Montañez lined a leadoff single to left. Baltimore’s Brian Roberts did the same with one away. Although Markakis mashed a three-run homer to right-center with two outs, the Orioles still trailed, 9-4. In the bottom of the inning, Castillo held the score by recording the first three-up, three-down frame of the day by a Baltimore pitcher. Orioles center fielder Jay Payton deserved an assist for his leaping catch at the wall for the first out, robbing Juan Rivera of a homer to left center.5

Payton doubled against Santana in the top of the sixth, but the Orioles did not score. In the bottom of the sixth, Castillo completed another perfect inning – again with Payton’s stellar fielding. This time, Payton took an extra-base hit away from Aybar, holding onto the ball as he collided with the center-field wall.6

Santana then finished his seven-inning, 106-pitch effort by retiring the Orioles in order. After the seventh-inning stretch, Hunter greeted Baltimore’s new pitcher, Chad Bradford, with a single. But the submarining right-handed reliever induced a 4-6-3 double-play grounder from Anderson and handled a Howie Kendrick comebacker for the third out. (It would be Bradford’s last appearance for Baltimore; he was acquired by the AL East-leading Tampa Bay Rays the next day.)

In the top of the eighth, Santana yielded to his fellow Dominican righty, rookie José Arredondo, who recorded three quick outs on two grounders and a fly. After Baltimore left-hander Jamie Walker needed just 11 pitches to coax three fly outs in the bottom of the eighth, Arredondo and Aybar teamed up to record the final three outs of the game. Scott and Payton each hit popups that landed in Aybar’s mitt, and the Anaheim shortstop handled Montañez’s grounder for the final out of the 2-hour 20-minute affair.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball Reference and Retrosheet for information, including the box score and play-by-play.  

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/ANA/ANA200808060.shtml 

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2008/B08060ANA2008.htm 

Photo credit: Luis Montañez, courtesy of the Baltimore Orioles.

Notes

1 Jeff Zrebiec, “Trip Ends in Fall,” Baltimore Sun, August 7, 2008: 3Z.

2 “Trip Ends in Fall.”

3 “Montañez’s First At-Bat Results in Home Run,” MLB YouTube channel, February 1, 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTZqVIi8_3Q (accessed May 5, 2024).

4 Zrebiec, “Trip Ends in Fall.”

5 “Trip Ends in Fall.”

6 “Trip Ends in Fall.”