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MILWAUKEE – Baltimore was right there. The losing streak was over.
The Tony Mansolino era had its first victory in the palm of its hand.
For the first time this season, Baltimore could come back to win a game after trailing entering the seventh inning. They found clutch situational hits when they needed to. Their former All-Star closer was on the mound with a chance to seal things in the ninth.
Baltimore was one strike away.
In a 2-2 count, American Family Field erupted at the sight of a Caleb Durbin RBI single to tie the game at three runs apiece.
What felt like a sigh of relief became shortness of breath. Baltimore had nearly completed the picture, but missed a piece of the puzzle.
Adley Rutschman's three-run home run in the top of the eleventh inning fit just right, and it gave the O's an 8-4 victory.
"Just to battle on the road, on a losing streak," Rutschman said after the game. "To be able to stay in there, keep going, keep pushing runs across the board, pitchers able to keep us in the ballgame. And then to close it out, it’s big for us.”
It helped that they had their stopper on the mound to start the game.
When Tomoyuki Sugano hit the hill against the Angels on May 9, the Orioles had lost five straight games. This afternoon, when Sugano took the mound against the Brewers, the Orioles had lost eight straight.
On May 9, Sugano tossed 7 ⅓ nearly flawless innings, allowing just one run on three hits, no walks and five strikeouts. Baltimore won that game 4-2. This afternoon, he tossed six innings and allowed just two earned runs. Baltimore won this game 8-4.
“It's not an easy thing to stop a losing streak like this, but all I thought was to make sure I don't give them a run first," Sugano said postgame.
The first hit of the contest came off the bat of Milwaukee’s Jake Bauers in the bottom of the second inning. His steal of second put runners on second and third with two away, but Sugano induced a weak pop-up to end the threat.
Baltimore’s first hit didn’t come until the fourth inning, but it came in a bunch. Gunnar Henderson and Ryan Mountcastle flared singles into the outfield, and the O’s had runners on the corners with nobody away.
Ryan O’Hearn was up with Baltimore’s first chance with a runner in scoring position, and he delivered. A well-placed single in front of center fielder Jackson Chourio plated Henderson, advanced Mountcastle to third, and presented Cedric Mullins with the same situation: runners on the corners, nobody away.
The speedy center fielder struck out on the 10th pitch of his at-bat. Emmanuel Rivera followed with a strikeout of his own, and Heston Kjerstad flew out to squash the chance for more runs. Despite three straight singles to start the inning, Baltimore came away with just one run, but did have the lead.
It wouldn’t last very long.
In the bottom of the fifth, Milwaukee knotted the score with some small ball. Durbin doubled, and with one away, Brice Turang was at the dish. He hit a weak dribbler to Sugano as Durbin attempted to steal third. A 1-3 putout recorded the out at first, but Durbin just kept on chugging around the third base bag. His slide beat O’Hearn’s throw to the plate, and it was a 1-1 game.
Kjerstad had another chance with runners in scoring position in the top of the sixth, but grounded out with runners on second and third to end another Orioles’ scoring threat. Baltimore rallies have been few and far between.
Sugano’s presence on the mound gave Baltimore a good chance to win. The O’s just needed to take advantage of their opportunity.
"As a team, we do have the ability to turn things around like this and I feel like every time I start, in some capacity, the guys rely on me," he said. "But if we can continue to play these kinds of games moving forward, that would be great.”
In the bottom half of inning number six, we saw a rare mistake from Sugano. A first-pitch cutter to slugger Rhys Hoskins caught too much of the plate, and Hoskins sent it to his home bullpen. A 404-foot solo home run pushed the Brewers out in front 2-1.
Sugano completed the inning, but his afternoon was done. On 88 pitches, the right-hander tossed six innings of two-run baseball, allowing five hits and one walk while striking out three. The outing was vintage Tomo: nothing flashy, but excellent command, working ahead in counts and limiting traffic.
His exit did pave the way for Andrew Kittredge to make his Baltimore debut in the seventh. The recently activated Kittredge was about as efficient as could be, throwing eight pitches and recording three outs.
Anyone for some situational hitting?
In the top of the eighth, with the O's down 2-1, Mullins was at the dish with another golden opportunity to score: runners on second and third with just one away. The veteran didn’t try to do too much and poked a fly ball into center field. It was deep enough to score Henderson, and the O’s tied things at two runs apiece.
How about some more?
With a runner on second, the slumping Kjerstad went with an outer-half fastball to drive it into left field. O’Hearn came home from second, and Baltimore found itself in the lead, 3-2. Sweet, sweet redemption.
The young outfielder also made some really nice plays defensively down the stretch, and his praises were sung by his skipper.
"I think kind of what’s lost in the whole thing is some of the plays Heston made," Mansolino said. "In the 10th inning, Heston hits the cutoff guy. Baker gives up the hit. Guy scores. Heston comes up, keeps the ball down, Urías cuts it and throws the ball to second base right there. If Heston kind of flies that ball to the plate right there, guy kind of walks into second base. Contreras is sitting over there, who’s kind of given us fits the last couple years. Adley with the obvious homer there put us up, but to me it was Heston that kind of got us there.”
Gregory Soto delivered a 1-2-3 eighth against the top of the Brewers order, and it was up to Félix Bautista to close things out.
For the first time this season, "The Mountain" took the mound for the second consecutive day. Yesterday, he allowed two earned runs in two-thirds of an inning.
This afternoon's line was technically better, but it felt a lot worse.
Strikeout, walk, fly out, walk, strikeout, single, run, groundout. Extras.
Pitching more frequently will be part of the plan for Bautista moving forward. Hopefully for the O's, with better results.
"It’s something we spoke about," Bautista said. "The pitching coaches, the manager, where ideally I’d want to get in there every three-to-four games. Even if in those games there isn’t a save opportunity, if after four days I haven’t gotten into a game, I’d like to go in there and pitch and continue to develop some rhythm.”
The closer said he felt good physically, which is encouraging. The tie score? Less so.
O'Hearn's fourth hit of the day, an RBI single to left, pushed the Orioles in front in the top of the tenth. More situational hitting! How about that?
"I looked up at one point and saw he had four hits and thought, how did Ryan get four hits," Mansolino pondered. "But I think you just kind of get used to this guy every day and how he puts the ball in play, hits the ball hard and gets hits. His numbers probably show he’s been doing this all year, and really the last couple of years.”
It was up to Bryan Baker to close things out against the top of Milwaukee's lineup.
Line out, single, run. Tie game. To the eleventh.
With runners on second and third and already one run in, Rutschman drove a 1-0 cutter deep to left for a three-run jack. He demolished the ball 110.1 mph off the bat and was greeted at home plate by his fellow enthusiastic run scorers.
"We know how talented every single one of us is, and I think everyone’s just got faith in each other and their ability to get the job done and keep the line moving and put together good ABs," Rutschman said. "So I was, again, I was really proud of our guys today.”
"That’s just more the group," Mansolino added. "They fought for Hyde all year too. So it’s just more the group. It’s who they are. We don’t expect them to do anything special for me. They kind of have been that way all year. Something that we’re accustomed to seeing with these guys and it was nice to stop the bleeding today.”
Seranthony Domínguez closed things out in the bottom of the eleventh, and there went the losing streak.
The Orioles needed that one in the worst way.
"It’s definitely a test," Rutschman said on the anniversary of his MLB debut. "You’re always going to get adversity over the course of a season, but you never know in what form it’s going to come or when. But it always comes.
I think we’ve got a great group in this locker room and a lot of guys with high character. There’s no other group I’d rather be around than the players we’ve got around here. I’m fortunate to be here.”
