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SAN DIEGO – The Orioles are pulling more players off the injured list, reducing the number to 10 with a little more than three weeks left in the season.
They might need to send out the homer hose for repairs. Maybe chip in to pay the Petco Park water bill.
Jackson Holliday cleared the right-center field fence against former Orioles Rule 5 Draft pick Nestor Cortes to begin today’s game. Colton Cowser, Coby Mayo and Alex Jackson went back-to-back-to-back in the third to send Cortes to the showers, accompanied by a chorus of boos.
The Orioles cleaned up on the Padres, completing the series sweep with a 7-5 victory before an announced crowd of 35,019 at Petco Park.
A 4-2 road trip has left the Orioles with a 64-76 record as they wait for the Dodgers to arrive in Baltimore for a weekend series.
"I’m pretty sure when we came into town they weren’t thinking they were gonna get swept, and I think it just goes to show how resilient of a team we can be," Mayo said. "They’re also really, really talented and a World Series contending team, so we’re really happy with this road trip. Obviously, the three games in San Fran, not exactly how we wanted it, but a 4-2 road trip, it doesn’t matter how you look at it, it’s a success for sure.”
Cade Povich kept the Padres scoreless through the fifth inning and the Orioles held on to sweep their sixth opponent. Povich made it interesting by surrendering a two-run shot to Manny Machado in the sixth and loading the bases with no outs on a single and two walks. Jake Cronenworth reached on an infield hit against Keegan Akin, and another run scored on Jose Iglesias’ double play.
"I think I tried to make a little too much of an adjustment going back into the sixth," Povich said, "just because they started picking up on some stuff, maybe just over adjusted and kind lost my release a little bit in that sixth inning."
"First five innings were good," said interim manager Tony Mansolino. "I’m proud of him in a seven-run game for attacking the zone the way that he did."
Akin earned props from Mansolino for preventing the game from slipping away.
"Came in, did his job," Mansolino said. "Keegan’s job in that situation was to give up two runs. Bases loaded, no outs, just give up two runs. Don’t try to save them all. He did it, he got us out of it, and it worked out."
Fernando Tatis Jr. led off the seventh with a homer to reduce the lead to 7-5. Shawn Dubin struck out three batters in the eighth after Ramón Laureano’s leadoff single, and Yennier Cano recorded his second save. He entered with a 5.18 ERA this season and a career 5.53 ERA in the ninth.
The early assault provided just enough cushion to withstand a comeback attempt.
Asked about Cano in the clutch, Mansolino said, "It sounds like the changeup, they’re working on the changeup a little bit, talking with Frenchie (Drew French), so they’re making an adjustment on that, and that was a big weapon right there in that inning."
The Orioles were being no-hit against the Rangers on June 24 at Camden Yards before Gary Sánchez, Ramón Urías and Ryan O’Hearn belted consecutive homers in a five-run seventh. The Orioles lost in 10 innings.
The circumstances were much different today. They sent 11 batters to the plate in the third to lead 7-0. Ryan Mountcastle had an RBI single off Sean Reynolds, who issued back-to-back walks to further agitate fans.
Mountcastle had the last Orioles hit. Mason Miller threw an immaculate inning in the eighth – three strikeouts on nine pitches – and Laureano robbed Cowser of another home run in the ninth.
The imbalance in offensive production didn't bother Mansolino. Take the win and consider the competition.
"Listen," he said, "off Nestor Cortes, who’s given us fits over the years, to go out there and throw up seven against a lineup that was mostly in Triple-A for most of the year, we’re incredibly proud."
Holliday reached base three times in three innings, beginning with his 16th home run, a left-on-left leadoff shot. The only out recorded by Cortes among the first five batters was Mountcastle’s line drive that Tatis leaped to catch at the right field track.
Holliday tied Gunnar Henderson for the team lead in homers. Henderson was out of the lineup for the fifth time this season, but he had appeared later in the first four games.
The young second baseman went 9-for-23 with seven walks on the road trip and raised his OPS to .706.
"I feel like for Jackson, because the profile is so big, the expectations are really unfair in a lot of ways," Mansolino said. "And when a 21-year-old kid does struggle for a few weeks, it feels like the world is kind of crashing around him, and that’s not fair to the kid. So you look up on the scoreboard, and again, it’s a 21-year-old kid, he’s hitting .250, he’s got over a .700 OPS, he’s got (16) home runs. He’s going to push 15 stolen bases. If he gets hot in the last month, it could be 20-20.
"Twenty-one years old, think about what he’s doing. He’s doing incredible. He just had like a bad three weeks or a bad month. So yes, he’s had a great road trip, we expected it the whole time. He is so strong between the ears, and that’s why he’s going to be so good in this game."
The Orioles loaded the bases in the first on walks to Jeremiah Jackson and Dylan Carlson and a line drive single to center by Emmanuel Rivera. Cowser ran the count full, tossed his bat on an apparent walk and was called out on strikes. The pitch might have nicked the bottom of the zone. Mayo fouled out and Cortes had limited the damage in 28 pitches.
He had no idea what was coming.
Mountcastle led off the third with a walk and Rivera singled again, this time smoking the ball up the middle at 105.6 mph and causing Cortes to tumble off the mound. Cowser homered with one out, a 420-footer at 108.1 mph. Mayo’s ball traveled 401 feet and Jackson’s soared 406 feet at 106.8 mph.
Three homers in a span of four pitches.
The walk to No. 9 hitter Luis Vázquez almost felt like trolling.
“Pretty sure it’s not an easy park to hit some homers at," Mayo said. "I know during the day it flies a little better. But it’s a really hard league that we play in and anytime you can string together a few hits in a row, and this just happens to be homers, it’s really nice and gratifying. As a player it’s just really nice when you get success.
“I don’t want to speak for everybody, but I was just looking for something up in the zone, something I could hit to the big part of the field. He’s sneaky, he’s got some good stuff and we were able to get to him today.”
The Orioles hadn’t gone back-to-back-to-back twice in the same season until today. They’ve done it 13 times, per STATS, most recently before this season on Aug. 6, 2017 with Jonathan Schoop, Chris Davis and Trey Mancini.
"You love that," Povich said. "I mean, it makes it easy. For the most part the rest of the game, I threw a ton of fastballs just in the zone, trying to get guys to swing early and get the at-bats over with so that our offense could come back in and kind of keep that momentum going."
Cortes has registered a 2.20 ERA and 0.994 WHIP in 11 career appearances against the Orioles.
"We talked about it at the start of the series," Mayo said. "This bullpen is really, really good, and when you get into the late game and you get their A closers and their A guys … Like, Mason Miller is their setup guy. Like, it’s unbelievable how loaded they are, and they have a lot of velo coming at you, and you just have to compete.
"We do a lot of work in the cage, and it kind of imitates how good these pitchers are, and you have to go at this cage work like it’s the real game because it’s really difficult.”
The Padres had runners on the corners with one out in the fifth and the Orioles turned a 5-4-3 double play on Tatis to preserve the shutout. Machado made it disappear in the sixth.
The lead didn't go away, and the Orioles got to play spoilers in the series.
"I mean, it’s awesome," Povich said. "This is a really good team obviously. To come in here and win three, I think it just shows us how good we really are and what we can do and hopefully kind of just continue this momentum that we have for the rest of the year into the offseason, into spring spring training and into next year."
"We’ve been on the other side of this the last couple of years," Mansolino said. "Talking to their coaches a little bit today, there is a lot of pressure over there. For us, we have the ability to play loose and free. Now, I do think going forward for the Baltimore Orioles, when we are back to playoff contention, we need to continue to play loose and free. In a lot of ways that starts with the manager’s seat and the staff and everybody in that room. We’ve got to continue the vibe of making good mistakes OK and staying aggressive, and I think it you can do that, you have the ability to maintain it.”
* Jeremiah Jackson’s hitting streak ended at 13 games.
* Brothers Albert and Robert Suárez exchanged lineup cards, hugged and posed for photos at home plate.
* Reliever Scott Blewett (elbow) began his rehab assignment this evening by starting for Triple-A Norfolk. He allowed two runs and three hits in one inning.
