Saturday Bird Droppings: Second half starts with a bang

Good Morning, Birdland,

Now, that is how you start the “second half” of a baseball season! The Orioles used four home runs to wallop the Rangers 9-1 on Friday night. Gunnar Henderson had four hits, Anthony Santander smacked two homers and drove in five runs, Corbin Burnes was tremendous, and the bullpen tossed three scoreless innings. It was a nice little summer evening.

Tonight is an opportunity for Grayson Rodriguez to get back on the track. The second-year righty has had a rough couple of weeks. Over his last five starts he has a 5.52 ERA and 4.46 FIP. That includes a pair of disastrous starts against the Astros and Yankees, but it also reflects 6.1 shutout frames in Seattle.

The Orioles…