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BOSTON – One of their best hitters limped to his locker this afternoon and back to the trainers’ room, leaving behind a walking boot for his injured right ankle. The two-time All-Star catcher was scratched from the lineup with discomfort in his right side.
The interim manager had two healthy players on his bench, both rookies with a combined 16 games of major league experience, and no idea who would close in a save situation - if the Orioles were able to create it.
“I feel like we’ve got a chance to go play a good game,” said Tony Mansolino, armed with a healthy supply of optimism.
What’s lacking is experienced and reliable late-inning relief, but Mansolino worked around it in a 4-3 11-inning victory over the Red Sox before an announced crowd of 37,435 at Fenway Park.
Samuel Basallo registered his fifth RBI in three games with a swinging bunt against Garrett Whitlock in the top of the 11th that scored automatic runner Jeremiah Jackson. Corbin Martin was summoned, Connor Wong laid down a sacrifice bunt, but automatic runner Abraham Toro held on a medium-range fly ball to Colton Cowser in left-center. The throw home was way off the mark.
Alex Bregman ran the count full and popped up, and the Orioles got their sweep.
"We've had our issues here in the ninth inning," Mansolino said. "It hasn't been super clean."
They squeaked by tonight.
The Orioles (59-67) are eight games below .500 for the first time since July 29. They’ve won six of their last seven and are 43-33 since May 24.
The outcome gave them three consecutive series wins for the first time this season.
Basallo swung at a 0-2 changeup that almost touched dirt and sent it 13 feet in front of the plate at 14.7 mph. The kid who destroys baseballs in the minors gave this one a love tap.
“I just tried to put the ball in play," Basallo said via interpreter Brandon Quinones. "I think in that situation, you can’t try to do too much and be the hero, so to speak, can’t really focus on trying to hit the ball out of the ballpark. My goal was to put the ball in play and try to make something happen in that moment.
“I think God controlled the ball in that situation, but I think I’ve had this really good ability to put the bat on the ball ever since I was a little kid, so I think that’s something I’ve taken a lot of pride in, being able to put the bat on the ball, so I think it worked out today.”
Basallo joins Rhyne Hughes in 2010 as the only Orioles with RBI in his first three career games, and Manny Machado in 2012 as the only ones to total five RBIs in three games.
“I try to go out there and have fun and not try to focus on what the results might look like," he said. "And honestly, this is something I worked on a lot in the minors when they put me in those types of situations, pinch-hitting and possibly getting me ready for situations like tonight, not trying to do too much, but I think it’s something I’ve been working on for a while.”
The play was a reminder, as Mansolino put it, that contact is king.
“In this game, and we were talking about batting average and stuff the other day, and to me it's indicative of contact quality," Mansolino said. "Contact being an important piece of the game. For a long time in this game, it was the three-true outcomes and contact was overlooked. But when you've got runners in scoring position, contact wins.”
The Orioles didn't push across a run against Aroldis Chapman in the top of the 10th, striking out three times. Yennier Cano, working back-to-back nights, hit Ceddanne Rafaela, walked Nathaniel Lowe with one out to load the bases and got a 4-6-3 double play from Toro, with Jackson Holliday making a nice stop and flip.
The Orioles kept threatening early and finally broke through with a three-run fifth inning, and Rico Garcia escaped a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the eighth. Yarmil Hiraldo wanted to ball in the ninth, got it and couldn't record his first major league save in his ninth appearance.
Two batters in, the score was tied.
Romy González drew a leadoff walk and Lowe hit a first-pitch fastball 424 feet to right field, over the home bullpen, for a 3-3 tie.
Hiraldo struck out the next two batters, walked Roman Anthony, Bregman and Jarren Duran, and got Trevor Story to ground into a force. He threw 34 pitches, only 12 strikes.
Tomoyuki Sugano allowed an unearned run over five innings to lower his ERA to 3.97. Part-time closer Keegan Akin retired all six batters he faced, but the Red Sox began the eighth with back-to-back singles off Kade Strowd, who complicated matters with a wild pitch.
Bregman walked to load the bases, leaving a huge mess for Garcia. Duran struck out on three changeups, Story on a 1-2 slider and Masataka Yoshida on a 96.6 mph fastball. Garcia pounded his fist into his glove twice and shouted as he stormed off the mound.
“That's the story of the game right there for Rico," Mansolino said. "That inning got away from Kade a little bit and Rico comes in, bases loaded right there, he was fine. When he came in the game, got on the mound, he's fine and to punch out three guys in that spot, it's really impressive.
"Now, there's a lot of guys that have bounced around the league in some ways. Hiraldo is a guy. Rico is a guy right there. (Grant) Wolfram is a guy. There's a lot of guys, Corbin Martin. They bounce around MLB, and they're getting opportunities that they have never gotten because of kind of clearing out the bullpen at the trade deadline and they're doing pretty good.”
“I just tried to not do too much," Garcia said. "Attack the hitters and just kind of trust my stuff and not try to play around the zone and make them chase and stuff. Just wanted to attack and kind of let them get themselves out.”
The display of emotion was unusual for Garcia.
“I mean, I’m a quiet guy," he said. "Guys from Hawaii, they’re quiet, but at the same time they get fired up when something they’re passionate about happens. Just being able to come out of that situation with no runs scored, it’s just one of those things you dream of as a kid, and when it happened, it kind of just happened.”
Ryan Mountcastle followed his three-hit night Monday with a game-tying single in the fifth against reliever Justin Wilson, and Cowser lined a fastball at 105.3 mph high off the Green Monster to score Luis Vázquez with the go-ahead run.
Cowser was 4-for-31 with one RBI this month and playing in his third game since leaving the concussion injured list when he gave the Orioles a 2-1 lead. Greg Weissert’s wild pitch brought home Mountcastle.
The Red Sox kept pressuring Sugano, putting five runners on base in the first three innings. Alex Jackson threw out González trying to steal after a leadoff single in the second inning, but Connor Wong’s leadoff single in the third and Holliday’s fielding error led to a run.
Sugano retired the next two batters but allowed Wong to score on a balk. Sugano was charged with a disengagement violation after Wong broke for home plate.
“I understood the situation after I came out again," Sugano said through interpreter Yuto Sakurai.
Mansolino removed Sugano at 85 pitches, with five hits, no walks and three strikeouts.
The slump is over for Sugano, who’s allowed six earned runs in his last five starts over 28 1/3 innings, and two in his last three starts over 17 1/3.
“I’ve been able to do what I’ve wanted to do," he said, "and overall, command has been great."
Walker Buehler also fell into numerous jams and didn’t record an out in the fifth inning before his removal.
The Orioles stranded six runners in the first four innings. Their best scoring chance came in the fourth when Coby Mayo singled with one out and held at third base on Dylan Carlson’s two-out double to left. Jackson was called out on strikes.
Holliday led off the fifth with a double off the Green Monster and Vázquez drew a four-pitch walk. Gunnar Henderson lined out against Wilson, but Mountcastle and Cowser delivered.
The game was delayed several minutes with one out in the top of the eighth inning as fire alarms sounded and lights flashed. The scoreboard instructed fans to remain calm.
The baseball gods keep trying to rattle the Orioles. Take away Jordan Westburg and Adley Rutschman. Bring on the next challenge. And never let them see you sweat.
"We’re all grinding and I love that," Garcia said. "Just kind of been my career path the whole way, just keep grinding, and all these guys are grinding with me. And I think we just build off each other.”
“I think our core guys, like Gunnar, Jackson, Adley, I think they are kind of starting to understand the leadership role here and they’re kind of standing up for themselves," Sugano said. "I think that is the major change.”
