Baltimore needed something to stop the slide, and Coby Mayo delivered the kind of jolt that can change the mood in a hurry.
The Orioles came into Monday in rough shape, riding a six-game losing streak and carrying only a 2.8% shot at the playoffs, according to FanGraphs. Still, with 18 games left and four games separating them from the third American League Wild Card spot, they were far from done. Craig Albernaz made that clear before the opener against Cleveland at Camden Yards.
“Even though we lost six straight, there’s still season ahead of us. We’re still in it,” manager Craig Albernaz said prior to the opener vs.
Cleveland. “We have to not look at, and flush, the last six games and look ahead.”
The Orioles took that message and turned it into a 6-4 win over the Guardians, ending their season-long skid and picking up their 70th victory. Trevor Rogers set the tone with a season-best 7 1/3 innings of one-run ball, while Josh Walker earned his first career save for Baltimore. But the headliner was Mayo, who launched two home runs and powered the offense when it mattered most.
Mayo’s second homer of the day came right after Cleveland trimmed the lead to 4-1. The 24-year-old answered with a two-run blast off right-hander Slade Cecconi, a Statcast-projected 411-footer that gave him the first multi-homer game of his 218-game MLB career.
His first shot was even more eye-catching in the context of this season. In the third inning, Mayo crushed a 426-foot solo homer off left-hander Joey Cantillo, his MLB-high 16th home run against a southpaw this year.
No other player entered Monday with more than 14. Mayo is now two homers against lefties away from tying Gary Roenicke (1983) for the most by an Orioles hitter in a season since 1954.
Rogers did the rest of the heavy lifting on the mound. The 28-year-old left-hander retired 20 of the 26 Guardians he faced and ran off 16 straight outs after Steven Kwan’s leadoff single in the first. Cleveland’s only run against him came in the sixth, when a string of two-out hits produced an RBI double by Jo Adell that cut Baltimore’s lead to 4-1.
The win tightened things up in the crowded AL Wild Card race, with Baltimore now three games behind Cleveland at 70-75 to the Guardians’ 73-72 mark. Toronto and Texas are also in the mix, but the Orioles at least gave themselves a chance to keep pressing. A sweep in the series would not only close the gap further, it would also give Baltimore the potential tiebreaker, though Cleveland still leads the season series, 3-2.
For now, the Orioles have what they needed most: one win, a little breathing room, and a reason to believe the next game matters just as much.
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 🡒]