Offense breaks through in series-clinching win (updated)

ANAHEIM – The Orioles needed a bounceback in the worst way. 

After being swept in three games in Minnesota, the Birds flew to Anaheim in search of answers. Perhaps they found some in a 7-3 victory that wrapped up a series win. 

The sun was shining brightly on a beautiful Mother’s Day in Anaheim. It was a bit too bright, perhaps, for Taylor Ward. 

Gunnar Henderson led off the game with a left-on-left double into the right-center field gap. A few batters later, it appeared as if the O’s had stranded another runner in scoring position when Adley Rutschman flew a ball with a 99 percent catch probability to left. Instead, Ward lost the ball in the Sunday sun and it dropped safely onto the outfield grass for a Rutschman triple. Henderson scored, and the Birds had given Zach Eflin an early 1-0 lead. 

That advantage quickly dissipated. 

Eflin, making his first big league start since early April, found trouble in his first inning of work. After a Jorge Soler single, Ward made up for his defensive miscue with an RBI double to even things at one. Logan O’Hoppe delivered a single of his own, and the Halos jumped in front 2-1. 

"I’ve done a lot of failing in my career, so I kind of know how to rebound from that," Eflin said. "Going out and giving up a two-spot kind of just, I think more so just settled me in mentally more than anything. It kind of gave me a reason to go out there and put up zeros and execute my pitches and really make sure I capitalized on what I capitalized on throughout the counts."

"The stuff all looked the same in that (rehab) start," said Hyde after the game. "We expected the same today."

The right-hander found some better luck in the bottom of the third. With runners on first and second with only one away, Ward roped a single to right field. Tyler O’Neill came up throwing, and Yoán Moncada was held at third. Jorge Soler didn’t get that memo, advancing from first to third on the hit, and the two both stood at the hot corner. That is not allowed, but a 9-2-6 putout looks fun on the box score. O’Hoppe grounded into a force out, and Eflin was out of the jam.   

Let’s jump ahead to the fifth inning, where Emmanuel Rivera reached on an error and Cedric Mullins doubled to put runners on second and third with no outs. Maverick Handley’s first major league RBI came on a sacrifice fly that brought Rivera home to knot the game at two runs apiece. Ryan Mountcastle followed with an RBI single to give the Birds a 3-2 lead. 

"That was nice," Mountcastle said. "Got out to a nice, comfortable lead so Zach could finish out his outing. Our bullpen can finish the job too. It was nice.”

"I thought our at-bats were really good in the middle part of the game," remarked Hyde after the win. 

The Orioles’ struggles against left-handed pitching have been well documented. Entering this afternoon’s game, their batting average and OPS against southpaws was the worst in the game by a wide margin. So to push three runs across lefty Tyler Anderson, who had a 2.68 ERA entering play, feels like a big step in the right direction. The southpaw’s day was done after those five innings, and only one of the three runs allowed counted toward his ERA. 

"We swung the bat pretty well against a left-handed starter," Hyde said with a smile. "You've gotta start somewhere. Today was a good day." 

Baltimore didn’t stop there. In the sixth, Ramón Laureano coaxed a walk from new pitcher Connor Brogdon. He then stole second, advanced to third on a throwing error from Brogdon, and scored on a wild pitch. Quality base running and some help along the way pushed the O’s lead to 4-2. 

Too many times this year, a slow start has doomed Baltimore’s offense. Today, the O’s broke that trend. After just one run in the first four innings, the Birds exploded to plate six more in the next two frames. The highlight was a two-run shot from Henderson to continue his excellent May. 

Thanks to a middle-inning surge that we haven’t seen much of from the Orioles this year, Baltimore was up 7-2 as we reached the home half of the sixth. 

That’s where we saw Seranthony Domínguez in relief of Eflin, who was pulled after 83 pitches. It’s important to note that in the right-hander’s only rehab start, he tossed just 58 pitches, and so was never going to work deep into today’s ballgame. Even so, the O’s won’t be upset about five innings of two-run ball. 

The Birds almost added more in the seventh, but Kyren Paris robbed Rutschman of a two-run home run that would’ve pushed their lead to 9-2. Given the recent state of affairs, it still felt OK to settle for a five-run lead.

"I loved the energy with how we played today," Hyde said. "I thought there was a lot of fight in us today."  

The Orioles needed a game like this. Despite early-inning struggles at the dish, they found a way to break through. 

"Good defensive plays, starting pitchers that can go deep into games, a bullpen that can shut it down and an offense that can click when it needs to click," Eflin said. "We did that today, and it was a fun day at the yard.” 

Next up, it’s another crack at the Twins. This time, at Camden Yards.