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The clubhouse that Ryan Mountcastle walked into earlier today isn’t the same anymore. Many of his teammates are gone. No one is talking about a playoff run. He came back from his injury rehab assignment and entered a new world.
The old power returned.
Mountcastle followed Adley Rutschman’s two-run homer in the first inning with a 433-foot shot to center field, and the Orioles began their homestand with a 3-2 victory over the Athletics before an announced crowd of 20,796 at Camden Yards.
Tomoyuki Sugano completed seven innings for the fifth time this season and first since June 3 in Seattle, and the Orioles improved to 53-63. They won for the first time when held to three hits or fewer and have won twice under those circumstances in the past two seasons.
“It feels like we stole one," said interim manager Tony Mansolino. "I think you guys probably feel the same, the way that thing was kind of going."
Tyler Soderstrom had an RBI single off Yennier Cano in the eighth, but Keegan Akin recorded his second save by retiring the side in order in the ninth.
Rico Garcia was warming for a second time and would have entered to face a right-hander.
“No, we don’t have a closer," Mansolino said.
"We won’t have a closer. We have a lot of guys closing games. ... We’re gonna be as creative as we can. I’ve said it before. Some nights it’s going to work, some nights it’s not. We’re not a genius tonight and we’re not idiots when it doesn’t work. It’s just baseball. You try to find the best matchups you can and hopefully it works out.”
Mountcastle’s home run was his third this season and first since April 30, and it left his bat at 109.6 mph. Athletics starter J.T. Ginn struck out the first two batters and walked Gunnar Henderson before Rutschman parked a slider into the right-center field seats with the count full and Mountcastle punished the same pitch.
“He’s a really good hitter," Mansolino said. "Go back a few years ago and he hit 30-something homers in his rookie year or so. He has not done that probably at the rate he’d like here the last couple years, but I do know that there are some swing adjustments while he was on the IL and I have a really good feeling about him these last couple months.”
Asked about the adjustments, Mountcastle said they're "nothing too crazy."
"I just did whatever felt comfortable and yeah, I felt good down there," he said. "I felt like I was seeing the ball well and brought it in today.”
The Orioles have gone back-to-back 10 times this season, the most recent before tonight on July 29 with Tyler O’Neill and Ramón Urías. O’Neill went on the injured list again today and Urías is playing for the Astros.
Mountcastle was 7-for-12 in his last three games before straining his right hamstring on a double steal on May 30. He hit three homers in his nine rehab games. Maybe they carry over.
"Hopefully it does," he said. "The one today was nice to see that get out and hopefully keep it going.”
Sugano allowed one run and five hits in seven innings, with two walks and four strikeouts. He came out after 91 pitches with the Orioles ahead 3-1.
Gio Urshela and Luis Urías singled to begin the third and Carlos Cortes grounded into a 4-6-3 double play.
Ryan Noda made a diving catch in right field in the fourth, and Jordan Westburg reached to his left to snag a 106 mph ground ball from former Orioles prospect Darell Hernaiz. Greg Allen got a poor break on Cortes’ 102 mph liner to center but recovered to make a diving catch and end the fifth inning.
The A’s had scored on Lawrence Butler’s leadoff double, a ground ball and Luis Urías’ sacrifice fly.
Allen was the 58th player used by the Orioles this season, four short of the club record set in 2021. Garcia would have been the 59th.
Coby Mayo raced to the netting in foul territory and lunged into it to catch Shea Langeliers’ popup in the sixth after Nick Kurtz reached on an infield hit. Soderstrom singled with two outs and Hernaiz grounded into a force. Sugano worked around a leadoff walk in the seventh for his ninth quality start.
"The split was hard and sharp," Mansolino said. "A lot of confidence out there right now. This is kind of what he looked like early in the year when he came in there. He just had probably four or five bad starts. Probably adjusting to the schedule, the workload of pitching in the U.S.A. and in this league. He’s been pretty good here for a while. The split was hard, it was sharp. The fastball had some life to it. That’s a pretty good lineup right there that he rolled through.”
Sugano has registered quality starts in three of his last five outings.
“The stuff is better," Mansolino said. "I’ve said it here a few times, there was an adjustment made with the mechanics. He’s throwing harder. Pitching in his league at 89-to-91 is very different than pitching in this league at 92-to-94, and Trevor Rogers is kind of the same scenario. There’s more life to the ball, so when there’s more life to the ball, it’s harder to hit, you get away with mistakes. When you make a mistake throwing 90, it gets waffled. When you make a mistake throwing 94, you’ve got a chance to get away with it. And pitchers make mistakes every night.”
Facing the A’s in Sacramento, Sugano lasted only 4 1/3 innings and allowed three earned runs and four total with eight hits.
“The pitch that was hit around last time around was really apparent, so I try to avoid those ones and splitter was pretty good today. But overall, command was really good," he said via interpreter Yuto Sakurai.
"I think the biggest thing is Adley coming back. He's been calling the game really well. So I think that's probably the biggest point.”
Dylan Carlson charged Brent Rooker’s shallow fly ball in the eighth and made a sliding catch, but his slump deepened. He went 0-for-3 and is hitless in his last 31 at-bats. He has two hits in his last 38.
Akin had the last defensive gem, reaching behind his back in the ninth to snatch Urshela's bouncer.
* The Orioles were looking ahead to tonight’s game but also honoring their past with a luncheon for 2025 Hall of Fame inductees Adam Jones, Joe Orsulak and broadcaster Tom Davis. The trio will be inducted Saturday evening.
Jones didn’t necessarily envision five All-Star appearances, four Gold Gloves and selection to the team’s HOF when the Mariners traded him in February 2008.
“Man, all I thought was, ‘I just want to play,’” he said. “If you play long enough, do well, they’ll reward you with things, and I didn’t set out for any of this. I just wanted a chance to play baseball, and Baltimore provided that for me. In Seattle at the time, Ichiro (Suzuki) was moving to center field and they were obviously making big moves. And the Orioles saw an opportunity in me, replacing Corey Patterson. I got an opportunity and I didn’t let it go.”
Jones also had no idea at the time that the trade would become so lopsided, one of the best in Orioles history. Erik Bedard made 46 starts in three seasons with the Mariners, underwent multiple shoulder surgeries and didn’t pitch in 2010. He became a journeyman, pitching for five teams in his last four seasons.
Jones (five times), Chris Tillman and George Sherrill became All-Stars. Tillman developed into the staff ace and Sherrill was the closer.
“I think it turned to be that way,” Jones said.
“You had three guys that made it to the Major Leagues and made All-Star Games. So when you look at it like that, obviously the Orioles definitely won that trade. But at the time, that’s how you do it. You’re trying to get a stud pitcher in Bedard, you’re talking about back-to-back 200-strikeout years in the East for a team that wasn’t that good, and obviously, you put him in Seattle with a pretty good team and it didn’t work out. That’s on them.”
* Kyle Bradish made his second rehab start with Triple-A Norfolk and allowed three runs and six hits in 3 2/3 innings. He walked two, struck out four, threw a wild pitch and hit a batter. He finished at 69 pitches, 45 for strikes.
Catcher Maverick Handley began his injury rehab assignment with Norfolk and went 0-for-2 with a walk and RBI. Terrin Vavra had a two-run double in the second inning.
