The Orioles got exactly the kind of afternoon they needed on Labor Day: a 6-4 win over the Guardians that snapped a six-game losing streak and came with a little bit of everything - early offense, steady starting pitching, and just enough late drama to keep it from feeling routine.
Baltimore wasted no time making Joey Cantillo uncomfortable. The left-hander had a miserable day with his command, and the Orioles took advantage almost immediately. Cantillo gave up three hits, four runs, and five walks in just 2.1 innings, and Baltimore kept handing itself free chances before finally cashing in.
It started with a pair of free baserunners to open the game, Blaze Alexander and Pete Alonso, though that threat didn’t turn into anything right away. The breakthrough came in the second. Samuel Basallo was hit on the left hand and stayed in the game, Rece Hinds walked on five pitches, and Dylan Beavers, buried in the No. 9 spot against a lefty, lined a 3-1 fastball into the left field corner to score Basallo.
The Orioles weren’t finished. In the third, they added three more, and two of those runs came on bases-loaded walks.
Coby Mayo got things rolling with a home run to left field, a blast that landed in the second deck and kept his recent damage against lefties going. After that, Christian Encarnacion-Strand walked, Basallo singled for his second hit, and when Cantillo walked Rece Hinds to load the bases, Cleveland had seen enough and turned to Franco Aleman.
That didn’t clean things up. Dylan Beavers struck out, but Blaze Alexander put together the kind of at-bat that can swing a game all by itself.
He fought off six pitches after falling behind 0-2, and Kevin Brown called it one of his best at-bats of the year. Jim Palmer added, “Sometimes you get walked, and sometimes you earn it,” and Alexander earned it.
Pete Alonso followed with another bases-loaded walk, and Baltimore was up 4-0.
The Orioles left 12 runners on base, so there was room to wonder what the final score might have looked like with cleaner finishing. But after the way September has gone for Baltimore, the four-run cushion still mattered.
Trevor Rogers made sure it held up. In his 28th start, the lefty kept doing what he’s done for most of the season: miss big trouble, work deep, and make the bullpen’s job easier. He got through the first three innings on 41 pitches, 32 of them strikes, and he barely blinked from there.
Cleveland’s only real breakthrough against him came in the sixth, when the Guardians strung together two singles and a bloop double down the right-field line off the bat of Jo Adell, a 71.3 mph knock that produced their lone run against Rogers. Even then, Baltimore answered right back.
In the bottom of the sixth, Jackson Holliday singled off Slade Cecconi, and Mayo struck again. This time the right-hander didn’t matter much; Mayo launched his second homer of the game, prompting Kevin Brown to warn, “Beware of flying objects!” That made it 6-1, and the game felt all but settled.
Rogers kept rolling into the seventh and eighth, giving up just one more hit before handing the ball over to Rico Garcia to finish the eighth. The lefty exited after 7 1/3 innings, having once again done the kind of work Baltimore has come to rely on.
The ninth got a little messy. With Ryan Helsley and Félix Bautista still out, Andrew Kittredge has handled the ninth more often than not, and he ran into trouble. He allowed two straight singles and an out before hanging a slider to pinch-hitter Nathaniel Lowe, who drove it to the flag court to cut the lead to 6-4.
That brought a bit of tension to a game that should have been over long before then, but Kittredge got Angel Genao to ground out. Craig Albernaz then brought in Josh Walker for the final out, and Walker finished the job by throwing nothing but fastballs and getting a fly ball to right.
Baltimore will take the win, the stop to the skid, and the fact that it kept fighting. It wasn’t a lock for the postseason, and it didn’t make anything easy, but it was a step in the right direction.
As for the day’s standout, there were a few worthy picks. Rogers gave the Orioles 7 1/3 one-run innings.
Mayo delivered the power with two homers and three RBIs in his first career multi-homer game. And Blaze Alexander made his case with two walks, including that 11-pitch bases-loaded battle that helped keep the third-inning rally alive.
In Other News...
Orioles Late-Season Injury Picture Just Got More Complicated
The Orioles spent part of their series against the Guardians sorting through a late-season injury picture that keeps shifting around the edges. Keegan Akin and Ryan Mountcastle are both with the club, giving Baltimore at least a couple of familiar faces back in the mix, while the team also laid out where several others stand in their recoveries as the calendar keeps moving toward the finish.
Mountcastle will not play again this season because of an oblique injury, a reminder of how much attrition has worn on the roster, and the rehab updates do not bring a simple wave of reinforcements just yet. Luis Robert Jr. and Christian Franklin are working in Sarasota, Flix Bautista is at Triple-A Norfolk on assignment, and Kyle Bradish is being handled carefully after Tommy John surgery, with his workload watched closely as the Orioles keep managing one of the more complicated health charts on the board. [Read more 🡒]
Orioles Face Two Big Questions As Wild Card Push Gets Tighter
The Wild Card race has tightened enough that every little update matters, and Craig Albernaz had a familiar opponent in mind when he talked about the Orioles place in it. The Baltimore manager, who spent time on the Guardians coaching staff, knows how closely these two clubs are watching each other as the standings compress and the margin for error shrinks. For the Orioles, the late-season picture is being shaped not just by the schedule, but by the health of a roster that has had to juggle a few key moving parts.
Ryan Helsley, Tyler ONeill, Flix Bautista, Ryan Mountcastle, Keegan Akin, Luis Robert Jr. and Christian Franklin all figure into that evolving injury picture, and Baltimores recent stretch has made each of those updates feel more important. The club has been trying to keep pace while sorting through those absences and tracking its recent results, but with the Guardians right there in the mix, the bigger questions are starting to come into focus. How quickly those players can return, and how much they can help once they do, may decide just how long the Orioles stay in the hunt. [Read more 🡒]
Orioles Fans Just Got Another Brutal Reminder About This Rebuild
A rough week for the Orioles in Boston did not end with much comfort for anyone still tracking where this rebuild stands. The Red Sox completed a four-game sweep, and in the same stretch of bad news for Baltimore, former Orioles catcher Adley Rutschman was already making noise in his new home with Boston by leaving the yard against Angels pitcher Grayson Rodriguez, another familiar name to Baltimore fans.
Rodriguez, once a first-round pick the Orioles hoped would help anchor the next wave, is now with the Angels after being dealt last winter for outfielder Taylor Ward. His Baltimore exit followed a frustrating run of injuries and uneven performance, which only adds to the sting when ex-Orioles keep popping up in meaningful moments elsewhere. Baltimore did at least stop the bleeding with a win the same day, ending a six-game skid, but the bigger picture for fans remains hard to ignore. [Read more 🡒]