As the Orioles approached the second half of the season, including a high-leverage reliever was seen because the membership’s greatest want.
Mike Baumann pitched like one Sunday.
The right-hander relieved a shaky Tyler Wells within the fifth inning of a tied recreation, pitched 2 2/3 scoreless innings because the offense pulled forward, then handed the ball off to the dominant duo of Yennier Cano and Félix Bautista to steer the Orioles’ 5-3 win over the Tampa Bay Rays.
“Player of the game for me,” supervisor Brandon Hyde stated about Baumann. “That was two-plus innings right in the meat of the game there, just did a great job keeping the score right there for us and getting to Cano and Bautista.”
The win was Baltimore’s third over the Rays this weekend in a pivotal four-game sequence between the American League’s two finest groups. The Orioles (61-38) arrived in St. Petersburg tied with the Rays (61-42) atop the AL East. They’re leaving with a two-game lead.
Wells allowed only one hit, however struggled together with his command all through, strolling 4 and hitting two batters. After three scoreless innings, the 6-foot-8 right-hander allowed a run within the fourth and a two-run, game-tying house run to Yandy Díaz within the fifth.
“It feels great,” Wells stated of the sequence victory. “Obviously, I didn’t do my job today as a starter, but Baumann came in, picked me up, and Cano and Bautista doing an outstanding job. … That’s what our team is about, picking each other up. I think that’s a big reason we’re in first place right now and hopefully that continues, but extremely proud of the guys and very thankful to have all of them.”
Gunnar Henderson and Ryan O’Hearn powered the offense with house runs. The former hit an imposing, two-run blast within the second that traveled 446 ft in response to Statcast; the latter hit a go-ahead solo shot within the sixth that traveled simply 331 ft. Adley Rutschman and Anthony Santander additionally recorded RBI hits.
The victory was Baumann’s seventh of the season — a surprisingly excessive complete for a center reliever — with out a loss. He has extra wins than Kyle Bradish (six) and as many as Wells (seven), the Orioles’ prime two beginning pitchers. Over his previous 11 2/3 innings, Baumann has allowed simply seven hits and one earned run. He walked two and didn’t give up successful Sunday.
Cano and Bautista adopted Baumann, with the duo pitching for the fourth time in 5 days however not trying fatigued. Cano retired the facet so as within the eighth to decrease his ERA to 1.48, whereas Bautista recorded his twenty eighth save with a scoreless ninth to drop his to 0.92. The Orioles as a group allowed simply three hits within the win.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the four-game sequence win in St. Petersburg is simply the Orioles’ second because the Rays joined MLB in 1998; the primary was in April 2006. The final time the Orioles received a sequence of a minimum of three video games at Tropicana Field was in June 2017. They most just lately received three video games in a sequence at Tampa Bay in May 2014.
“Tough place to play, trouble playing here in the past,” stated Hyde, whose Orioles went 3-18 at Tropicana Field from 2020 to 2022. “And we just played four really good games against a really good team and just really proud of all of our guys’ effort.”
Rutschman put the Orioles on the board early within the sequence finale with an RBI double to attain Henderson, who led off the sport with an infield single. Rutschman launched a 109.3 mph frozen rope off Rays starter Taj Bradley, a rookie who pitched six innings of one-run ball in opposition to the Orioles in June.
An inning later, Henderson hit his mammoth house run that ricocheted off the catwalk at Tropicana Field.
“That was loud and far,” Hyde stated. “How far was that? It only went 446? I’ll take the over on that. Check the Statcast here in the Trop. But that was loud and a beautiful swing.”
The lengthy ball was the fourth-farthest by an Oriole this season. Henderson has three of the membership’s six farthest homers. The 22-year-old stayed on Bradley’s 2-2 curveball and smoked it 111.2 mph. Since 2008, solely eight different Orioles have hit a house run that tough and that far.
“I felt like I got that one pretty good,” Henderson stated. “That was the first time I hit the catwalk. Never done it in BP, so it was pretty cool to see that.”
Wells, who plunked two batters within the first three innings however didn’t permit successful, additional misplaced his command within the fourth. He walked the primary two batters of the body, permitting one to attain on a Brandon Lowe groundout. He issued one other free go to steer off the fifth earlier than Díaz’s game-tying homer — the twenty third he’s allowed in 19 begins.
“I just didn’t have a good rhythm,” Wells stated. “Obviously, the walks, the hit batters, not what I want. And, ultimately, I paid for it. Very frustrating to say the least.”
Hyde pulled him for Baumann one batter later, ending Wells’ afternoon at 4 1/3 innings. Wells pitched a minimum of 5 innings in every of his first 18 outings this season, however he’s failed to take action in back-to-back begins. In his two second-half outings, he’s surrendered seven hits, six walks and eight runs in 6 1/3 innings.
Hyde stated the membership will proceed to observe Wells’ innings all through the second half. The 28-year-old has already thrown extra innings this 12 months than he did as a member of Baltimore’s rotation final 12 months.
“He doesn’t normally hit guys or walk people. He’s the league-leader in WHIP for a reason,” Hyde stated. “That’s why I took him out of the game, honestly, because it wasn’t a normal Tyler Wells inning. We’ll continue to monitor him. He’s thrown a lot of innings and he’s not used to this many innings, but we need him.”
O’Hearn’s homer off left-hander Colin Poche was the second straight recreation he’s delivered the go-ahead hit after his RBI single in Saturday’s victory. It was an uncommon lengthy ball for a number of causes. The homer was simply his fourth off a left-handed pitcher in his six-year profession and his first since June 2019. It was additionally hit simply 331 ft, hitting off the underside of the foul pole on the Trop’s brief porch in left discipline for the fifth-shortest homer within the majors this season.
“I might take the under on O’Hearn’s,” Hyde quipped, taking part in off his touch upon Henderson’s homer. “Ryan O’Hearn’s gotten huge hits for us this year and continues to be an absolute gamer. Love the way he plays.”
The oddity is why O’Hearn carried a giant smile as he rounded the bases.
“Homers like that are kind of funny,” he stated. “Left-on-left, which I don’t face many lefties, and just to shoot it down the line and then hits the foul pole. Obviously, a great spot in the game to get a run there, but personally for me, it warranted a smile.”
The Orioles are 6-3 in opposition to the Rays simply two seasons after going 1-18 versus them in 2021. With MLB’s new balanced schedule, the 2 golf equipment play simply 4 extra instances this season, all at Camden Yards in September. Baltimore must win simply a kind of video games to say the season sequence for the primary time since 2016 — the final season wherein it made the postseason. Winning the season sequence might be a probably key think about figuring out who will declare the division crown ought to it come right down to the head-to-head tiebreaker.
“It was a grinder every game,” O’Hearn stated of the sequence. “They’ve got a really good team over there, and so do we. … I’m glad we came out on top. Also, it’s only July. We’ve got a long way to go. Definitely take a win here on the road against these guys and feel good about ourselves.”
Around the horn
- Right-hander Austin Voth (elbow discomfort) continued his minor league rehabilitation task Sunday, beginning and pitching two innings for Double-A Bowie. Voth, who started the task Thursday within the Florida Complex League, allowed two hits and one run whereas hanging out two with out a stroll. He gave up hits to Nationals prime prospects Robert Hassell III (solo house run) and James Wood (double). He threw 27 pitches, of which 22 have been strikes.
- Left-hander T.J. McFarland, a veteran who returned to the group on a minor league contract Saturday, pitched one inning of reduction Sunday for Triple-A Norfolk. McFarland pitched 4 years in Baltimore between 2013 and 2016 and since performed for the Arizona Diamondbacks, Oakland Athletics, St. Louis Cardinals and New York Mets.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com