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The Orioles experienced a typical morning before Game 1 of their doubleheader. They used the injured list again. They waited for the Blue Jays to announce their starting pitcher after the usual delay. Interim manager Tony Mansolino provided injury and rehab updates and was asked again about the trade deadline, saying that family and friends won’t let players ignore it. Coby Mayo did some early work on the field. The heat was borderline unbearable.
The run-scoring fly balls that came later were a unique touch.
Winning games hasn’t been the norm during a last-place season that’s got the front office in sell mode, but the Orioles picked an interesting time to get hot.
Charlie Morton registered a quality start in perhaps his last appearance with the Orioles, and their first four runs and five overall scored on sacrifice flies in a 16-4 victory over the Blue Jays before an announced crowd of 16,194 at Camden Yards.
Ramón Urías had his second career multi-homer game, and the Orioles (49-58) are nine below .500 for the first time since July 13. They’ll try for their second doubleheader sweep this month.
The five sac flies are a franchise record and tied the major league mark shared by three other teams. Jackson Holliday came off the bench to drive in the last run in the bottom of the eighth. No other team has finished a game with at least four homers and five sac flies.
Sacs and socks were the order of the day.
"They came out, they competed," Mansolino said. "Those are the at-bats that winning teams have right there when you have that many. We’ve talked about it all year. That’s a runner in scoring position, those are really positive at-bats right there. So just proud of the guys. That’s winning baseball.”
A chance at a fifth fly had fizzed in the fifth inning when Mayo struck out after Tyler O’Neill singled and Cedric Mullins doubled. The lead held at 4-3.
Another opportunity passed in the sixth with O’Neill at the plate. He deposited a first-pitch slider from reliever Lazardo Estrada into the bullpen for a three-run shot. He’s homered in his last four games to set a personal record. Urías followed O’Neill and cleared the center field fence for a 9-3 lead, the ninth time that the Orioles have gone back-to-back.
“The people that I know around the league that have had (O'Neill), and I’ve talked to people just because there have been so many ups and downs here with his health and whatnot, they’ve all told me when he gets hot, watch out, because he’ll carry the team," Mansolino said. "That’s kind of what we’re witnessing right now. It’s pretty neat.”
Ten batters came to the plate, and Colton Cowser’s RBI single gave the Orioles double-digit run production in back-to-back games for the first time since July 20-21, 2024. They’ve scored 50 in their last four games after collecting two more in the eighth with catcher Ali Sánchez on the mound. Jordan Westburg recorded his fourth hit – giving him seven in the last two games – with an RBI double, and Holliday pushed the Orioles deeper into history.
Gunnar Henderson hit a three-run homer off Chad Green in the seventh and Urías found the seats in left field – 417 and 407 feet, respectively. Interim manager Tony Mansolino dipped into his bench to rest a couple of regulars with his club ahead 14-3.
Only the Orioles and 1955 Red Sox had tallied at least four home runs and four sac flies in the same game. Sac flies became an official statistic in 1954.
"I think we’ve got a group that is healthy," Urías said. "The boys are swinging it well, feeling good, so we’re just carrying the momentum and we’re just feeling good about each other."
The Orioles loaded the bases twice in the first inning and led 2-0 on sacrifice flies from O’Neill and Mullins. Blue Jays left-hander Easton Lucas threw 30 pitches.
First baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. complicated Lucas’ life by fielding Ramón Laureano’s ground ball and trying for the out at third. Jordan Westburg hustled back to second after his leadoff double, and Henderson walked before O’Neill came to the plate.
The bases were loaded again with no outs in the third after singles by Laureano and Henderson, and O’Neill’s full-count walk. Urías and Mullins flied to left field and the Orioles led 4-0.
Morton retired seven of the first eight batters before Sánchez doubled with one out in the third. Nathan Lukes grounded back to the mound, but Davis Schneider reached on an infield hit to score Sánchez. Urías charged the ball, fielded it on the short hop and sailed his throw over Mayo’s head.
Addison Barger hit a 428-foot home run to center field in the fourth after Bo Bichette’s leadoff walk to reduce the lead to 4-3. Two singles put runners on the corners with one out, but Morton escaped the jam with some help from the Blue Jays. Will Wagner broke for second base, Henderson cut off catcher Alex Jackson’s throw and fired home to get Joey Loperfido.
The Jays also had a pair of two-out singles in the fifth, the last by Bichette on a popup that fell between Westburg and O’Neill, but Barger struck out on a 2-2 sinker. A single and walk with one out in the sixth created Morton’s last jam, and he got away clean on a deep line drive to left and groundout.
Morton threw 100 pitches and allowed three runs and eight hits. His ERA is 5.42 in 23 appearances and 3.88 in 11 starts since May 26.
Maybe too good to keep him in Baltimore.
"I don’t know if I'm thinking more about it," he said. "I think maybe I'm thinking differently about it, just because it's fast approaching. Mike (Elias) is going to have some choices to make. I wouldn't say that I'm thinking more about it, necessarily. I do think, though, it's just kind of becoming more of a reality. And it's kind of like, it's a moment in time that you know is there, and you know it exists, but you don't know how it's gonna play out. And as it gets closer, you're kind of closer to that reckoning moment where something will happen.
"I guess that's my attitude about it. I don't know. I think I probably started thinking about it a few weeks ago, especially coming out of the All-Star break, because it's just the reality of the game and the professional side of the game."
The professionalism and class exhibited by Morton under the most trying times will stay with everyone who's crossed paths with him.
“You guys have been dealing with players struggling for a long time and I have to assume that you guys probably haven’t come across a lot of players that do handle themselves in the way that he did when he did struggle, with the media and owning it," Mansolino said. "Guys like Charlie, they stay in the big leagues for 20 years because they’re really good, they’re great players, but they also stay in the big leagues for 20 years because of their character. And I think in Charlie’s case I think we’ve seen the full spectrum of it all here over the last four or five months.”
The contenders are noticing how much he's improved over the course of the season.
The Orioles are playing like one again, but too late to change into buyers.
"I feel like we’ve been competing all year," Mansolino said. "Even through the worst of times, I feel like the fellas, that position-player group, they’ve competed. I feel like Charlie, in spite of the early struggles that he had, he’s come out of it incredibly and competed even on a day where maybe he doesn’t have his best location, he gives us a chance to win against a really good lineup and a really good team. Just credit to the players, credit to the staff. Getting those guys to compete. When you have days like this, it just feels good.”
