Orioles slugger Mark Trumbo had to miss the games on Friday and Saturday after experiencing lower back spasms, but – in a sense – it was like he never left.
The Orioles certainly could have used him in Saturday's loss, but he was still a major reason why they salvaged the final game of the four-game series Sunday against the Rays, and won that important series against the Boston Red Sox last week at Fenway Park.
Trumbo hit a home run to account for the only run in that suspenseful rubber game in Boston on Wednesday. He also scored a run in Thursday night's loss to the Rays before coming back to blast the game-winning homer in the eighth inning of Sunday's tense, 2-1, victory at Oriole Park.
So, after feeling not so great the past few days, how did it feel to add to his major league-leading home run total (43) and propel the Orioles into the big four-game home series against the Red Sox that begins tonight.
"I mean obviously really good,'' Trumbo said. "This time of year, someone's got to step up at some point in the game. We did a real nice job. It was a well-played game, but we just needed to get that hit there at the end. So it was nice."
Trumbo said after the game that he is enjoying the day-to-day intensity of pennant-race baseball and hopes that the Orioles' success last week in Boston can carry over into a successful divisional showdown this week.
"I think we've battled that team pretty good this year, so I look forward to getting a chance and four games will be a real nice way to kind of see where we shake up at the end," he said.
"You want to be playing meaningful baseball. I've been on the other side and there is nothing fun about that. You want to be in it and we've put ourselves in that position."