‘It was a special win’ – The Denver Post

The Orioles have claimed sole possession of first place in the American League East twice in three days.

The first time, they scored three runs in the fourth inning, blew that lead, retook it with small ball and held on thanks to Félix Bautista. The second time, they scored five runs in the fourth inning, blew that lead, retook it with small ball and held on thanks to Bautista.

The Orioles on Saturday defeated the Tampa Bay Rays, 6-5, in a battle for AL East supremacy behind Grayson Rodriguez’s solid start, manager Brandon Hyde’s decisions in the ninth inning and Ryan O’Hearn’s game-winning RBI single.

“We jumped out early, they crawled back in and then we find a way to scratch a run there and Félix shut it down at the end,” O’Hearn said. “It was a special win, and we’ve got to go get the series tomorrow.”

In his second start back in the big leagues, Rodriguez allowed two runs in 5 2/3 innings for the second-best outing of his young career. Hyde tapped Adam Frazier and O’Hearn to pinch-hit in the ninth, and both came through with base knocks. After Frazier’s leadoff single off right-hander Pete Fairbanks, veteran catcher James McCann, who hit a two-run double in the fourth, bunted Frazier to second. O’Hearn then drove him in to give Bautista a one-run lead that he held with a three-up, three-down ninth for his 27th save.

“It was a weird game, but a lot of huge things,” Hyde said. “[Frazier] pinch-hit, stays ready, knock. McCann another fastball to the face bunt. He’s had three this year. Leading the league in bunts with fastballs to the faces. And then O’Hearn just an amazing at-bat off a really, really tough reliever, drops one in there down the right field line.”

Shortstop Jorge Mateo and left fielder Austin Hays also hit run-scoring doubles in the fourth as part of a five-run inning against Rays left-hander Shane McClanahan, who entered 11-1 with a 2.56 ERA as perhaps the best starter in the AL. The outburst broke the Orioles’ 12-inning scoreless streak after they were shut out Friday.

The Baltimore-born McClanahan had never allowed more than three runs in his first eight starts against the Orioles, going 6-0 with a 2.14 ERA. The five runs he surrendered tie a career-high.

“We have never done that against McClanahan,” Hyde said. “To string some hits together, a bunch of guys pitching in, guys bottom of the order. McCann huge double, love seeing [Mateo] huge double. Just really, really good at-bats there off a guy that’s one of the best pitchers in the league, starter in the All-Star Game that we’ve had trouble with.”

Before Thursday, when Frazier’s sacrifice bunt and Colton Cowser’s sacrifice fly in the 10th propelled the Orioles to victory, they hadn’t been alone atop the AL East since Aug. 12, 2016. Baltimore (60-38) owns the best record in the AL, ahead of Tampa Bay (61-41). FanGraphs gives the Orioles an 87% chance to make the playoffs, 29.5% to win the division and 3.7% to win the World Series.

“I do think this team has what it takes,” McCann said when asked if Baltimore can win the World Series this season. “It’s a very good mix of young players with a lot of energy and veteran players that have been in that situation before. It’s a team that doesn’t quit, guys that get after their business in a professional way. Anytime you put all that together, you’re going to end up with a lot of success on the field, and that’s what we’re seeing now.”

Rodriguez regroups

When Rodriguez was optioned to Triple-A in late May, Hyde said the hope was that he’d come back a better pitcher.

Through two starts, that’s been the case.

The overall numbers don’t sparkle — six runs allowed in 10 2/3 innings — but he’s pitched like a 23-year-old who got better during his stint with the Norfolk Tides. The starts have come against two of the best lineups in the major leagues in the Los Angeles Dodgers and Tampa Bay Rays, and Rodriguez has displayed improved fastball command and composure.

“Nobody wants to see that, but I’ve seen it so many times that it can work to a player’s benefit,” Hyde said before the game about Rodriguez’s demotion about two months ago. “It doesn’t feel good at the time and nobody wants to see it and you feel terrible for the guy because of the high hopes and the hype and everything, but nobody’s going to remember that six years from now.

“He’s got big-time, top-of-the-rotation stuff. … I thought he did a great job going down with a great attitude, the right work ethic, the right message to work on the things that you struggle with up here, and he did those things.”

His start Saturday was the second best of his nascent big league career, behind only his nine-strikeout, five-scoreless outing versus the Detroit Tigers in late April. In a pivotal AL East matchup, the 6-foot-5 right-hander didn’t allow a run through five innings and faced the minimum thanks to two double plays.

After his demotion, Rodriguez’s marching orders were to improve his fastball command and trust the pitch more. On Saturday, he generated a career-high 17 swings and misses, including eight on his four-seamer that he threw nearly 50% of the time. He also got four whiffs on his changeup, his main offspeed pitch.

“I feel like a totally different pitcher,” Rodriguez said. “Back to what I know, I guess. That’s just being able to go out and get outs.”

“I think it gives me something to build off of, definitely help my confidence out a lot,” he added. “That’s obviously a really good team, a loaded lineup, so I’m glad I’m able to come in here on the road and put my team in a spot to win.”

After retiring the first seven batters, including three groundouts in the first, Rodriguez worked through a one-out single in the third and a one-out walk in the fifth with double plays. The latter was when third baseman Gunnar Henderson, who has made several highlight-reel plays over the past week, made a diving catch on a line drive and fired the ball to first to double up second baseman Brandon Lowe, thanks to a slick pick from first baseman Ryan Mountcastle.

“That was incredible,” Rodriguez said of Henderson’s play. “That’s the only way to describe it.”

Rodriguez’s day ended in the sixth after Wander Franco hit a two-out, two-run single through the Orioles’ shifted infield to put the Rays down 5-2. The top pitching prospect surrendered three hits and two walks in 5 2/3 with six strikeouts.

“I thought Grayson was unbelievable,” Hyde said after the game. “Really impressed with him the last two starts since he came back from Triple-A.”

Danny Coulombe replaced Rodriguez and got the final out of the inning thanks to McCann throwing out Franco attempting to steal second. Setup man Yennier Cano replaced the left-hander with two runners on in the seventh, allowing an RBI single to Isaac Paredes and stranding one.

Shintaro Fujinami, who the Orioles acquired from the Oakland Athletics on Wednesday, pitched for the second day in a row. After allowing a solo home run in Friday’s loss, the Japanese right-hander struggled Saturday, walking the first two batters he faced and allowing both to score. Franco drove in Manuel Margot with a ground ball, and Randy Arozarena, who entered Saturday with a career .345 batting average against the Orioles, tied the game with a two-strike RBI single that skipped past Mateo with two outs.

Hyde said his faith in Fujinami isn’t shaken after the rough start to his Orioles career.

“His stuff is great,” Hyde said. “He’s going to be a huge help for us.”

Arozarena stole second to put the go-ahead run in scoring position off Cionel Pérez, who replaced Fujinami, but the left-hander struck out Brandon Lowe looking on nine pitches to give Frazier, McCann, O’Hearn and Bautista the chance to win the game in the ninth. Hyde called the strikeout the “biggest out of the game.”

Like Thursday’s win, in which Frazier bunted in a situation many teams don’t, McCann did the same. The 98.6 mph fastball from Fairbanks nearly hit McCann in the face, but it hit the handle of his bat instead for a perfect bunt.

“I got Bautista coming in the game, so I’m just trying to score somehow,” Hyde said.

“Can we talk about McCann’s bunt?” O’Hearn said when asked about the ninth inning. “I don’t know if you guys have seen the video yet, but that should be circulating on the internet because that is unbelievable that he got that bunt down and he didn’t get seriously injured on that pitch.”

A few months ago, O’Hearn was the Orioles’ left-handed bench bat after years in that role with the Kansas City Royals. He’s become a starter for Baltimore against right-handed pitchers with an overall OPS of .857, but back in his old role Saturday, he came through with one of the biggest hits of his six-year career.

“It means everything,” O’Hearn said. “I love this team. It’s been my most fun I’ve ever had in my career being a part of it. To be able to contribute, especially in a big game against the Rays, battling for the division is awesome. I don’t take it lightly at all.”

Around the horn

• The Orioles signed veteran left-handed reliever T.J. McFarland to a minor league contract Saturday, and he was assigned to Triple-A Norfolk. McFarland, 34, returns to the organization he spent the first four years of his major league career with. The left-hander was a Rule 5 draft selection in 2013 and served as a long and middle reliever from 2013 to 2016, recording a 4.27 ERA in 198 1/3 innings. For the past seven years, he’s pitched for the Arizona Diamondbacks, Oakland Athletics, St. Louis Cardinals and New York Mets. He’s spent most of the 2023 season in Triple-A, but he was called up by Buck Showalter’s Mets in late June and designated for assignment a week ago.
• Right-hander Austin Voth will begin his minor league rehabilitation assignment Sunday with Double-A Bowie, the team said. Voth has been on the injured list since mid-June with elbow discomfort that he managed for most of the season. The trade for Fujinami could complicate whether there’s a spot for Voth in the Orioles’ bullpen when he is healthy enough to return.

Orioles at Rays

Sunday, 1:40 p.m.

TV: MASN

Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM

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