masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgThe Orioles ran out of rookie relievers making their major league debuts. Their streak of bullpen wins by newbies ended last night at two.
A modest total for most streaks, but no other team in the modern era went back-to-back before the Orioles, who provided the opportunity for Mike Baumann the previous night and Manny Barreda on Wednesday.
Could there be more contrasting relievers than these two?
Baumann, 25, the third-round pick in 2017 who’s ranked as a Top 10 prospect in the system by…

The Orioles ran out of rookie relievers making their major league debuts. Their streak of bullpen wins by newbies ended last night at two.

A modest total for most streaks, but no other team in the modern era went back-to-back before the Orioles, who provided the opportunity for Mike Baumann the previous night and Manny Barreda on Wednesday.

Could there be more contrasting relievers than these two?

Baumann-Throws-White-Debut-Sidebar.jpgBaumann, 25, the third-round pick in 2017 who’s ranked as a Top 10 prospect in the system by MLBPipeline.com and Baseball America. Barreda, who turns 33 next month and was drafted by the Yankees in the 12th round back in 2007. Who was making a living in Mexico before signing his minor league deal.

The chance to pitch in the majors arrived for Barreda in his 491st professional game. It took Baumann 77 before walking through the bullpen gate at Camden Yards.

Even the circumstances behind their victories were different. Manager Brandon Hyde wanted to give Baumann multiple relief innings behind starter Alexander Wells, also a rookie, though he didn’t intend for the outing to last 3 2/3 with just an unearned run allowed. Baumann became the pitcher of record because Wells was removed before the fifth with the Orioles leading 6-2.

Barreda, meanwhile, sneaked up on his win by retiring the side in order in the top of the eighth with the Orioles losing 5-0. There was no reason to place any more significance on the appearance beyond how he finally made it – a feel-good moment in an otherwise mundane and nondescript game.

The Orioles did the unimaginable, sending 12 batters to the plate and scoring nine runs. Hyde was going to send Barreda back out for the ninth until the comeback and had to use Dillon Tate and rookie Tyler Wells to register the last three outs.

Mop-up duty became a precious moment, topping his experience at the Tokyo Olympics. And last night’s two-run homer served to Hunter Dozier in the ninth inning of a 6-0 loss couldn’t ruin it.

“It was amazing watching guys take great at-bats,” Barreda said after Wednesday’s game. “It was just destined to be. God put me here today so I could throw the eighth, we could score nine runs, which, I was talking to some of the guys, it doesn’t happen. I don’t think that’s happened this year. I’m not sure. But to score nine runs, just enough runs to win a ballgame, it’s just destined to be and I’m thankful.”

Barreda knew he would be the pitcher of record because players reminded him as the rally unfolded, in case he hadn’t noticed or done the math.

“Winny (Austin Wynns) kept telling me in the dugout, ‘Hey, you’re going to win this game,'” Barreda recalled. “(Kelvin) Gutiérrez told me, ‘Hey, you’re going to win this game,’ and he goes out and he gets a big hit. And I was like, ‘It’s going to happen.’ Then, once we got that (Ryan Mountcastle) home run, that was like, ‘I might win this game.'”

Only after Andrew Benintendi’s three-run shot off Tate with two outs in the ninth carved the lead to 9-8.

“I was kind of nervous,” Barreda said, “but I knew we would have enough to win that game.”

Barreda used Baumann’s outing as a guide of sorts as he faced his first hitter, Adalberto Mondesi, who flied out.

“I saw (Tuesday) Big Mike threw his first pitch and they took it and I was like, ‘All right, maybe he’ll take this one,” Barreda said. “I knew it had to be a competitive pitch, but once he swung I was like, ‘Hey, I’ve got to get going’, and that’s when I turned into war mode.”

Where he’s been is far more interesting. Four seasons spent in the Mexican League while waiting for another organization to give him a shot.

“My teammates here, everybody’s been very supportive since I got here,” he said. “They probably don’t know much of my story, but they’ve all been amazing.”

Ramón Urías, who had a clutch pinch-hit RBI single in the eighth, played on the same club with Barreda in Mexico.

“In the dugout, Winny and I were talking and I said, ‘Hey, I knew my paisano would have my back,'” Barreda said. “I knew he was going to come up big, and he did, and I told him, ‘Hey, thanks for having my back.’ It was funny. And talking in the dugout during the game I was like, ‘Hey man, I think this mound’s a little better than the one I pitch on in Mexico.’ And just having a laugh about it.”

Hyde still hadn’t gotten the chance yesterday to talk to Barreda about the experience.

“I’m going to look for him after we talk,” Hyde told the media. “There was a lot of stuff going on after the game last night.”

* Speaking of last night, Tanner Scott let an inherited runner score in the eighth and two of his own on three singles. Nothing that would cause media and fans to check Statcast for exit velocities. Two balls touched Jahmai Jones’ glove. The drawn-in infield also burned him.

“Kind of an unlucky outing for me,” Hyde said.

The box score only shows the earned runs and an ERA that increased to 4.19.

Scott had been charged with earned runs in only one of his last nine appearances and two of 12.

“Tanner, we know the stuff that he has,” Hyde said. “It’s about throwing strikes. If he doesn’t walk anybody in his inning, more times than not it’s going to be a successful inning, just because his stuff is that good. They did a nice job of getting the bat on the ball a few times with runners on base and just an unfortunate inning for us.”

* The Orioles have lost John Means’ last seven starts, but he’s completed the sixth inning with three runs or fewer in three of his last four outings. He pitched into the eighth last night and left with the Orioles down 1-0.

Means’ last victory came on July 31 in Detroit.

Some things are out of his control.

“It’s baseball, it happens and it’s part of the game,” Means said. “I think that’s kind of why the whole wins and losses for a pitcher thing are kind of going away, but you still want to get the win, you still want to give your team a chance and I try to do that every night.”

* Prior to the game, the Orioles placed starter Matt Harvey on the 10-day injured list with inflammation in his right knee, an injury that could date back to his Aug. 4 exit at Yankee Stadium. The results certainly haven’t been the same since that night.

Ten days leaves plenty of time for Harvey to start again if the Orioles want him in the rotation, but everyone knows the circumstances. The prospects who are funneling onto the roster and the possibility that Dean Kremer joins them. And Harvey is undergoing more tests on the knee, which seems to indicate that his return isn’t right around the corner.

Hyde basically said as much.

“Not sure at this point,” Hyde said, “but he’s definitely going to be out for a while and we’ll see when and if he comes back, but right now it’s an IL stint and he’s getting further tests.”

The “if” part really jumps out at you.

Harvey made 28 starts with the Orioles and I’d say the vast majority of people in the industry are shocked by his workload. They would have taken the “under” without a second thought much earlier in the season. And his leadership in the clubhouse has been valued.