The Orioles keep finding ways to make this trip matter.
Baltimore outlasted the AL-leading Rays, 4-3, in 10 innings at Tampa, banking a second straight one-run win and putting itself on the verge of something bigger than just a nice series. The Orioles are 60-63 now, and if they can finish off a sweep at Tropicana Field and inch back within a game of .500, the conversation starts to change fast.
That’s a long way from where this club has lived for most of its recent past. But this road trip has already shown a different kind of fight, and the latest win came with all the ingredients that can flip a series: a starter who battled, a bullpen that handled the pressure, and a couple of timely swings from a lineup that has been stuck in the mud more often than not.
Kyle Bradish gave Baltimore exactly the kind of survival outing it needed. He worked six innings, allowed seven hits and four walks, and struck out three while throwing 92 pitches.
The stuff wasn’t overpowering, and the Rays barely swung through anything - just four whiffs all day - but Bradish kept the damage contained. Tampa tied the game at 1 in the third after a double and two singles, though Bradish got the big outs he needed against Junior Caminero and Yandy Diaz.
Later, in the sixth, Cedric Mullings tripled into the gap for another run, but Bradish stranded him there when Taylor Walls lined out weakly to end the inning.
“It was grindy for him,” Albernaz said of Bradish, “but it was also a really good outing.”
Baltimore gave him support early. Leody Taveras drove in a run in the second with a two-hit hit, and Christian Encarnacion-Strand and Pete Alonso each launched solo homers off Rays starter Ian Seymour. Seymour still punched out nine, because the Orioles’ swing-and-miss issues have not gone anywhere; since June 1, they’ve been whiffing as much as any team in MLB.
The lineup itself still feels like it’s searching for a rhythm. Baltimore moved Alonso out of the leadoff spot after he filled that role Friday for the first and perhaps only time in his career, and Gunnar Henderson stayed in the fifth spot. Henderson went 1-for-4 with a run scored after delivering four hits Friday.
The bullpen did the rest of the work, with Alex Hoppe, Josh Walker and Rico Garcia combining to allow just one hit over three innings before the Rays made things tense again in the ninth. Andrew Kittredge got the first two outs, then ran into trouble in the same way Yennier Cano did Friday.
Diaz and Jonathan Aranda singled, and then Encarnacion-Strand couldn’t handle a dribbler from Caminero. Jorge Mateo, the former Oriole, scored from third while Caminero reached first safely.
Baltimore had already let a 3-2 lead slip away in the ninth, but the 10th belonged to the Orioles. Tyler O’Neill, batting leadoff in a rare move from Albernaz, singled off ex-Oriole Bryan Baker to bring in the zombie runner. Cam Sanders, who needed just one pitch to get the save Friday, was sharp again and finished off the final three outs.
Friday night’s unusual leadoff man, Alonso, pulled up running to first in extra innings, but Albernaz said it was only calf cramping.
For Sanders, the rookie manager had plenty of praise.
“It’s been unbelievable,” Albernaz said of Sanders. “It’s been awesome to see. He’s answered the bell whenever we’ve given him the ball.”
Albernaz also said before the game that catcher Samuel Basallo has begun rehab work in Norfolk as he works back from the Injured List. Blaze Alexander, who has been out since before the All-Star break after being hit on the hand by a pitch, is taking batting practice and will have another medical check soon.
The Orioles now turn to Sunday’s early 12:15 first pitch, with Opening Day starter Trevor Rogers on the mound. Rogers has allowed 15 hits in 16 innings over his last three starts.
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