This, that and the other

NEW YORK – Orioles reliever Rico Garcia can inherit a mess or create his own. The outcome is the same.

The man wanders into a buzz saw and walks away without a scratch.

Garcia has kept opponents hitless in 10 at-bats this season with the bases loaded, including 0-for-1 with the Mets. It’s a neat escape act that shouldn’t be attempted by just anyone.

The Orioles beat the Red Sox 4-3 in 11 innings on Aug. 19 at Fenway Park after Garcia struck out Jarren Duran, Trevor Story and Masataka Yoshida in the eighth to strand three of Kade Strowd’s runners. The Rays led 5-2 in the eighth inning Thursday at Camden Yards when Garcia replaced Strowd and allowed three consecutive singles. He struck out the next two batters, retired another on a line drive, and home runs from Coby Mayo and Dylan Beavers ignited a 6-5 walk-off win.

What’s the magic?

“I try not to think about it,” he said yesterday. “That could change real quick.”

The person responsible for making him think about it knocked on the wood frame of his locker to ward off a possible jinx.

“No, no, you’re good,” Garcia said with a laugh.

“I think it’s just one of those things like, for some reason, when guys get in scoring position, I just get, like, pissed, I guess you could say. So in that sense I guess it kind of helps me lock in more, just because it’s one of those things like, ‘OK, here we go. Base hit, they’re scoring runs.’ As opposed to bases empty. But not to say that I’m not always trying to pitch mad or whatever it may be. It’s just that, when there’s guys that are threatening to score, it’s just kind of a little more extra on it, I guess you could say.”

Does Garcia get angrier if he’s responsible for the baserunners?

“It’s all the same,” he said, “it’s all the same.”

Opponents were 0-for-12 with the bases loaded against former Orioles reliever Tim Stoddard in 1980, the most failed at-bats going back to 1974, per STATS. They went 0-for-10 against Adam Loewen in 2007 and Kyle Gibson in 2023.

Garcia is joined by Ken Holtzman in 1976, George Sherrill in 2008 and Chris Tillman in 2014 as Orioles pitchers who escaped bases-loaded, no-out jams twice in the same season. Garcia might not get another chance with only two games remaining, but he’s already been noticed for it.

Interim manager Tony Mansolino has his own theory on Garcia. He credits the Hawaii native’s calm demeanor, the low-key personality that allows him to rise to the challenge in some clutch situations.

“It’s got to be a temperament thing,” Mansolino said. “I really believe in the mental skills part of major league baseball and just the ability to slow things down and having the right tools and skills in place in between your ears to handle those things. I think some guys are better than others. We have a very good mental skills coach here in Josh Kozuch, who’s done a wonderful job. For Rico, there’s some temperament to him.

“He’s a guy who’s been through a lot in his career – the injuries, being DFA’d, being released, bouncing team to team. I think that, combined with who he is and what he is and what his culture is, lends itself to in those situations being a really unusual performer.”  

* Mansolino had a popular manager quote relayed to him a few days ago, one that Buck Showalter used in the past.

Don’t fall in love with March and September stats.

In other words, don’t be fooled by impressive performances in spring training and over the final month with the expanded rosters and reduced hopes.

Mansolino let the thought percolate that night and drew the conclusion that changes implemented in 2020 lessened the validity of it. Beginning in 2020, teams could only add two players in September rather than dumping an entire 40-man roster in the dugout.

“I don’t think that applies to September nowadays because it’s not the 38 players here. It’s 28 guys,” he said.

“You’re playing against the best competition every night. It’s not watered down. They’re all major league players. And then you look at our September schedule and who we’ve played and what they’ve been playing for, I do think it’s OK to evaluate your players on this. I do think it’s OK to take what they’ve done here in September and carry it into 2026.”

* Sixteen of Tyler O'Neill's 34 hits this season have gone for extra bases - six doubles, one triple, nine home runs.

O'Neill homered last night. Power was a big part of the plan when the Orioles signed him to a three-year, $49.5 million contract, but three injuries ruined his first season with the Orioles. He couldn't come close to the 31 homers in 113 games with the Red Sox last season.

The offseason will be spent in the gym getting in top shape and not deviating from the winter norm. 

"I’m going to work really hard in there," he said. "I’m going to trust my training program, trust the experts around me. I’m gonna have a facility to myself and a batting cage to myself, just the way I like it, so I‘ll be able to get good work in throughout the months of the wintertime. It’ll be a good situation. I’m really looking forward to it. Coming into next year, a lot of motivation to want to produce and be more available.

“It’s more like adding onto the pile, per se, and then just finding a balance of not overworking on a daily basis with certain things," he said. "I don’t really want to get into the specifics of that, but like I said, that’s why I have experts around me who I can rely on and put myself in a good position throughout the wintertime and come into spring training strong next year.”