Scary situation looms over Orioles' 4-1 win (updated)

TAMPA – It was an ominous night of baseball at George M. Steinbrenner Field.

Under normal circumstances, the 4-1 Orioles win would’ve been the leading story. After last night’s loss, they turned things around to deliver an all-around win and secure a series split. 

Instead, minds were and continue to be elsewhere. 

In the seventh inning, a foul ball off the bat of Adley Rutschman took an unfortunate line to the Rays’ dugout. The hard-hit struck reliever Hunter Bigge, who, along with being hit on the side of the face, took a scary fall into the dugout. The game was stopped for a long stretch as medical personnel attended to Bigge. After some time, he was placed on a stretcher and gave a thumbs-up to the concerned crowd. He exited the field on a cart with medical staff attending to him. 

Throughout the night, some positive updates about Bigge have rolled in. According to Rays reporters, manager Kevin Cash said that Bigge was coherent and talking to the physician at a local hospital. The hope is that these are just the first of many positive updates. 

"Yeah, I mean, I saw it off my bat," Rutschman said. "It’s really, really scary. Praying for him and for his recovery and hope he’s doing okay. Just … It’s scary."

Colton Cowser echoed that sentiment. 

"Yeah, it's scary," he said. "It's one of those things that happens and, you know, you snap into reality real quick. It's something that you don't want to see happen to anyone. Prayers to Hunter, and hopefully he's alright and the tests come back good. But, yeah, very scary."

Tony Mansolino and Charlie Morton expressed similar messages, and any other player or coach we could've talked to would've done the same. It was a terrifying situation for everyone at the ballpark, the kind of moment that puts this baseball thing in perspective. 

Human beings play this game. They're people who are very good at baseball, and they're human beings all the same. 

In the scope of this season, though, this game was an important one for the Orioles. So we’ll break down some baseball. 

The list of tasks for Baltimore entering tonight was a daunting one. 

It included, but was not limited to, needing to find a way to respond after last night’s tough loss with limited bullpen arms available against one of the best pitchers in the American League. 

In quintessential Rays fashion, some small ball helped them get on the board first. 

José Cabellero, the league’s stolen base leader, didn’t work very hard to avoid being hit by a Morton curveball in the third inning. He promptly stole second, advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt, and scored on an RBI-single from Danny Jansen. 

It gave the Rays an early 1-0 lead. 

The Orioles, though, would respond in a very similar fashion against potential AL Cy Young candidate Drew Rasmussen. 

With one away in the top of the fourth, Gunnar Henderson was hit by a pitch. He advanced to second on a fielder’s choice, and a Ryan O’All-Star single brought him home to square the ballgame.   

Against a tough pitcher like Rasmussen, you’ve got to find a way to scrape things together. Baltimore did exactly that. 

Or, if you can’t put runs on the board, just work the pitch count. 

The one caveat in Rasmussen’s outstanding season is that he has yet to record an out in the seventh inning of a game. And, until tonight, he had yet to throw over 87 pitches. The Orioles ran him off after 5 ⅓ innings of work and 92 pitches. It was still a solid outing, allowing just the one run, but getting him off the mound was a plus for Baltimore. 

On the other side, Morton was even more effective. As mentioned, the O’s really needed a long start from the veteran right-hander with a taxed bullpen. Early on, he was showing that he could provide just that. 

Morton cruised through his first five innings of work, tossing an efficient 62 pitches in the process. 45 of those pitches went for strikes, epitomizing a night in which he limited traffic and kept hitters off balance with excellent command of the zone. 

"For the better part of a month now, I’ve been locating well, I’ve been throwing strikes," Morton said. "I mean, I think, you know, I’ll have an outing here or there where it’s like maybe the command is a little bit of an issue, but I don’t think that’s abnormal for anybody. I think everybody kind of runs into an outing. I think I made some adjustments a while back with my delivery and my timing, and since then, I’ve felt pretty good."

In the sixth, Morton’s offense gave him some breathing room. 

Cowser, for the third night in a row, delivered a long ball. With two on, two outs and two strikes, Cowser launched a four-seam fastball that caught too much of the plate to right-center field for a three-run shot. 

Oddly enough, all three of his home runs in this series have come with two strikes against him. Something about that approach. 

"I mean, I'm in a lot of them, so, you know, sometimes it happens," Cowser said jokingly. "Finding the swing again, the approach started to get a little bit more fine-tuned. Just kind of game planning on what to expect. And I really wasn't expecting that pitch there, but that just kind of tells me that I was, you know, timed up where I needed to be, and the approach was right."

At 84 pitches, and after an extended pause in the top of the seventh, Morton’s night concluded after six innings. It was exactly the kind of start the Orioles needed, giving the bullpen a shorter night to wrap up. 

"I think it’s more of mentally preparing yourself for the fact that, you get in a jam and hopefully they’re not coming to get you," Morton said. "Like, they’re going to leave you out there to clean up your own mess. I think that’s more it than I gotta work deep into a game. I think it’s more just mentally preparing yourself for kind of a marathon outing if that’s what they need."

Seranthony Domínguez entered the game in the seventh and worked himself in and out of some trouble. With runners on second and third and only one away, the righty found a strikeout and a groundout to get out of the inning. 

Gregory Soto entered the game in the eighth and faced some similar trouble, too. But, with a runner on third and one away, Soto delivered an inspired punchout. Two down. Bryan Baker jogged out from the 'pen to face Junior Caminero with runners on the corners and walked him on four pitches. With the bases juiced, Jake Mangum flew out to left without putting a run on the board. He was as animated as we've come to expect Baker to be. 

In the top of the ninth, Cedric Mullins came feet away from giving the O's a 6-1 lead. Instead, it was a long out on the warning track. Félix Bautista was tasked with holding a three-run lead. 

The big right-hander did just that, and the Orioles secured the series split, with a final score of 4-1. 

"We know how good that Tampa team is, this is a really good team and they’re probably playing better than anyone in baseball right now," Mansolino said. "So, to walk in here and take two of four and really put yourself in position to take three of four, it just gives us a lot of confidence and makes us feel really good on this next trip in New York, which is going to be a tough one."

This game meant a lot of important things for Baltimore. The win got them back to 10 games under .500 and gave them some positive momentum heading to New York. They didn't let last night's loss spill over into the final game of the series, a set that they split with one of the hottest teams in baseball. 

It's a good feeling from a baseball perspective, underscored by a horrific accident that left all in the stadium shaken. Hopefully, the baseball aspect will feel better with some more positive health updates for Bigge.