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Adley Rutschman celebrated his return to the Orioles tonight. If Cedric Mullins passes him going the other way, he’s doing it with a bang.
Mullins and Coby Mayo hit back-to-back home runs in the second inning, Rutschman broke a tie with a two-run double in the third, and the Orioles kept unloading on Blue Jays pitching to win their third game in a row, 11-4, before an announced crowd of 20,176 at Camden Yards.
Zach Eflin lasted only 4 1/3 innings in what could be his last game with the Orioles, who improved to 48-58 with the trade deadline arriving at 6 p.m. Thursday. The Blue Jays have the best record in the majors at 63-44 but are 26-27 on the road.
Eflin wasn’t sharp and his luck wavered, but the Orioles supported him in every possible way. Runs were plentiful, and Mullins made a leaping catch at the center field fence to rob Nathan Lukes of a game-tying two-run homer in the fourth. Eflin stood frozen, the same look of disbelief that Trevor Rogers wore on Saturday after Mullins’ diving grab, and raised his cap.
Mullins landed with his back against the fence and with knees bent, as if sitting on an imaginary chair. He tossed the ball underhand to Ramón Laureano, who raced over from right field, and they jogged back to the dugout. One of them received a standing ovation.
"Just watching him from my perspective on the mound, catching that ball was just incredible, because in my mind I’m like, ‘Oh, there's another homer. Year of the homer for me and there's another two-run shot,'" Eflin said. "And Ced just climbs the wall and makes the catch and it just brings back the momentum and fuels the offense for the next half and really just sets the tone for the rest of the game.”
Interim manager Tony Mansolino used the occasion to again criticize the defensive metrics that severely downgrade Mullins.
“Listen, the defensive metrics, we were looking at them today, and I’m not going to say the names that we were looking at, but we were looking at well-known players, star players, and DRS and Outs Above Average, they were a 15-to-16 gap between the two," Mansolino said. "So in DRS, a positive 15 and Outs Above Average a zero. How is that possible? I do think, when you look at metrics and all this stuff, going back to Ced, you’ve gotta look at the whole picture. And look at Ced today.
"I think Ced’s a zero or a 1 in Outs Above Average. So he’s a negative-17 in DRS, he’s pretty much a neutral, a 1, in Outs Above Average. Which one is it? I have no idea. I’m as confused as you guys. So when you see Ced make the diving play in center field the other day, OK. When you see what he did today, OK. So I do think it’s in some ways a non-story, to be honest with you. Unless both of those things line up and are equally as tough on him, I don’t know if I can look too much into it, especially after plays like that.”
Mullins ran the count full against Chris Bassitt and drove a sinker 413 feet to right field at 104.9 mph. Mayo saw two pitches, the second also a sinker that traveled 413 feet to the splash zone at 108.1 mph.
This is the eighth time that the Orioles hit consecutive home runs.
Mullins momentarily led the team with 15, breaking a tie with Laureano and Jackson Holliday. But Laureano caught him with a two-run shot in the fifth after consecutive doubles from Rutschman and Ryan O’Hearn.
Mayo has three major league home runs and two in his last three starts, and he’s punishing the ball. He singled in the fourth at 104.5 mph, and reliever Tommy Nance gave him an RBI in the fifth by fielding his roller to the mound and taking the out at first base instead of home plate. That one was only 62.4 mph, but it also counted.
A grounder that sneaked into left field in the seventh produced Mayo's first career three-hit game.
Colton Cowser got into the act with his ninth home run, and first at Camden Yards, that stretched the lead to 11-4 in the seventh.
An early 3-0 lead didn’t last long. Eflin retired the first two batters in the third and surrendered a home run to Lukes. George Springer walked and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. cleared the center field fence and Mullins' glove – barely – to level the score.
Rutschman returned from the injured list earlier today, his last game played on June 19, and went 3-for-5 with two doubles and a single. He struck out on a curveball to strand Jordan Westburg in the first inning and batted again in the third after Westburg’s leadoff single and Gunnar Henderson’s walk. Rutschman doubled off the center field fence at 104.4 mph, turning to the dugout and setting off the sprinklers with the Orioles leading 5-3.
Westburg had three hits on his bobblehead night. Rutschman had his first multi-RBI game since June 5 and second since May 21.
"He’s a pretty good player," Mansolino said. "You look back on the first two and a half years in the league, and he was projected to be going a long way in this game for a long time. So he’s gone through some struggles here over probably a 300-at-bat span. That’s probably the right way to look at it. It felt like he was coming out of it a little bit when he got hurt. Today was another nice step in the right direction, so hopefully he continues.”
Eflin said getting back Rutschman is "huge."
“Just his presence alone, he's an amazing teammate, amazing person," Eflin said. "To have his bat back in the lineup, to have him back behind the dish, just means the world to these guys, and you can tell how much he means to these guys, just with the reactions of him being back in the clubhouse. Very excited to have him back and just looking forward to watching him play.”
The clubhouse lit up when Rutschman walked into it.
"It’s awesome," he said. "I missed these guys so much, and to be able to get back out there again today, it was just the best."
The double in the fifth came against left-hander Brendon Little, and he scored on O’Hearn’s double. Laureano followed with a 428-foot homer to left, Cowser walked and Mullins doubled to force another pitching change. The Orioles already had 13 hits and finished with 16.
The lead was 6-3 in the third on Laureano’s RBI single that ended Bassitt’s night, but Will Wagner’s groundout in the fourth scored Ernie Clement after a leadoff single.
Corbin Martin inherited two runners from Eflin in the fifth, stranded them with two strikeouts and earned his second major league win, the other in his major league debut on May 12, 2019 with the Astros. He tossed 1 2/3 scoreless innings and struck out four. Four relievers combined for 4 2/3 scoreless.
Eflin was charged with four runs and eight hits in 4 1/3, with one walk and three strikeouts. Two singles in the fifth came on a grounder that deflected off Holliday’s glove and a blooper into center. He's allowed 23 runs and 37 hits in 18 1/3 innings in his last five starts. Tonight was his second since leaving the injured list after lower back discomfort cost him almost a month.
“I'm still trying to build up and make quality pitches," Eflin said. "I think we can more so highlight how good the offense was tonight, how good the defense was. It was a great one for the boys.”
And if this is Eflin's last start with the Orioles?
“It's been an absolute pleasure to wear this uniform and I don't take that for granted," he said. "I've made a lot of really, really amazing friendships in this clubhouse that are going to last a lifetime, but I don't want to speak ahead of anything. I don't know what's going to happen. I don't think anybody knows what's going to happen but if something does happen, I'll forever appreciate my time here and just how much of a family this clubhouse is.”
Rutschman doesn't want to think about how much the room could change over the next few days.
"Try not to," he said. "Try and just focus on the game as much as possible. A lot of that stuff is not in our control, and so, you never know what’s going to happen, and whatever happens, we’ll roll with it. But love the guys in this clubhouse."
* Charlie Morton is starting Game 1 of Tuesday's doubleheader. Game 2 is TBA.
* George Springer was hit on the side of the helmet by Kade Strowd's 96 mph sinker in the ninth inning. He stayed face-down for several minutes before slowly rising to his feet and walking off the field with assistance. Fans gave him a standing ovation. Pitching coach Drew French came to the mound and spoke with Strowd.
“George is one of the more well-respected players in Major League Baseball," Mansolino said. "Really, when any player is in that scenario, anybody who’s every kind of stood in the box or stood on the field at any level, I think we all kind of cringe. Then you see it happen to a guy like George and it’s even more so. So, terrifying. We hope he’s OK. The fact he walked off the field, that’s encouraging.”
* The Orioles signed 21 of their 24 draft picks, the exceptions right-hander Daniel Lopez (12th round), outfielder William Johnson (18th) and shortstop Jimmy Anderson (19th). They also signed four undrafted free agents: Texas prep shortstop Joephillip Guzman, Augustana University right-hander J.D. Hennen, Florida Atlantic right-hander Todd Kniebbe and Murray State right-hander Isaac Silva.
