SNL cautiously spoofs the Baltimore riots

“Saturday Night Live” took a baseball bat to the riots in Baltimore in its latest episode, offering a pitch-perfect send-up of the sensitive subject matter through the lens of Wednesday’s Orioles-White Sox ballgame.

The sketch, which ostensibly revolved around the first-ever, closed-to-the-public Major League Baseball game between the Baltimore Orioles and the Chicago White Sox, offered a lighter look at the powder keg that has been shadowing Charm City this past week.

“White Sox are coming in with two wins in a row, but Baltimore has just been on fire this week,” says Kenan Thompson as Orioles legend Frank Robinson before apologizing “for how I said that.”

“Compare the Orioles now to their series against the Blue Jays,” notes Taran Killam as Jim Palmer attempting to defuse the tension. “Baltimore took an absolute beating from the boys in blue.”

“Don’t know why I called them that,” he quickly adds.

As the skit progresses, the situation gets exponentially more tense, leading up to a climactic “did they really just say that moment” toward the end.