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Ramón Urías will find it harder to get into the Orioles’ lineup as more healthy players filter back from the injured list. Jordan Westburg probably will start at third base on most nights. Jackson Holliday is practically locked into second base.
There will be exceptions, of course, like Westburg serving as the designated hitter tonight and Urías occupying the bottom of the order. Interim manager Tony Mansolino won’t bury him. And they showed in loud fashion that they can co-exist.
“Urie will get plenty of time and at-bats,” Mansolino said Tuesday afternoon, “and it will be a really good role for him going forward, too.”
Zach Eflin doesn’t know if he’ll be with the club past the trade deadline. Pending free agents are likely on the table if the Orioles are defined sellers. But Urías and Eflin are living in the present and they were major contributors to a 10-1 win over the Tigers at Camden Yards.
Eflin held the Tigers to one run in 6 2/3 innings, and Urías gave him a lead in the third with a two-run homer. The Orioles put the game out of reach with a seven-run eighth that included Westburg’s second homer in two nights, a three-run shot off Beau Briske.
"You’re talking about like rehab stints and when’s the right time to bring him back," Mansolino said of Westburg. "I think we probably got that one right so far.”
Bryan Baker retired the side in order in the eighth, the Orioles sent 10 batters to the plate in the bottom half, and their record improved to 27-39 with their first victory over the Tigers in the last seven tries dating back to September.
“You see tonight,” Urías said, “we were able to put 10 runs against a really good team. We are playing better at the right time and we’re getting our boys back and we feel better.”
Cedric Mullins had an RBI double in the eighth and scored on a wild pitch, Ryan O’Hearn plated two runs with a bases-loaded single before Westburg’s blast, and the Orioles won for the eighth time in 11 games. Going 4-for-16 with runners in scoring position didn’t deter them. They were clutch enough.
"To watch those guys there in the eighth and ninth work the at-bats, really good quality at-bats, and then get on, get them in, it almost became infectious," Eflin said. "It was really fun to watch."
The Orioles scored their most runs since Opening Day, snapping a streak of 64 games without reaching double digits. Mansolino said they were aware of it. They posted a season-high 16 hits. Everyone in the lineup had at least one.
“For the last month, it’s been like, ‘Man, we’d love to throw up 10 tonight. It will make it a little bit easier,'" Mansolino said. "I'd have loved to have done that the first few innings. You’re kind of pulling your hair out there in the seventh. ... We’ll take 10 however you get them.”
Eflin left to a standing ovation after carrying a two-hit shutout into the seventh, where two singles with one out and Colt Keith’s double high off the out-of-town scoreboard reduced the lead to 2-1. Pinch-hitter Dillon Dingler grounded to Urías, who threw home for the out, and Keegan Akin entered the game and stranded runners on the corners.
Urías also made a nice grab of Zach McKinstry's line drive in the sixth. He was money in the field, too.
"He was incredible," Eflin said. "That line drive that McKinstry hit, I didn’t even see the ball, and next thing, I turn around and Urí had it in the glove. And then in the seventh inning, that hard ground ball to third base that Urí got the guy out at home was huge. He’s a ball player, man. He’s so much fun watching him play. Gold Glover, just you feel so comfortable with him at the hot corner."
Eflin didn’t surrender a hit until Riley Greene singled with two outs in the fourth. He retired the first eight batters, McKinstry walked and Parker Meadows bunted back to the mound.
Strikes came in abundance – eight out of 11 pitches in the first, 15 out of 20 through the second, 22 out of 33 through the third and 33 out of 49 through the fourth after Spencer Torkelson froze on a sinker in the middle of the zone to strand Greene.
Only eight pitches were needed to retire the side in order in the fifth, and Keith produced the first fly ball out in fair territory. Gleyber Torres singled with two outs in the sixth for Detroit’s second hit, making him 3-for-21 lifetime against Eflin, but Kerry Carpenter grounded out.
Eflin lowered his ERA to 4.08. He allowed five hits, walked one and struck out five. He threw 86 pitches, 61 for strikes.
"I think, more than anything, just command," he said. "I pretty much trusted every pitch I was throwing, Adley (Rutschman) called a great game and really just following the game plan that we put together going into this game. Hat’s off to Adley, because he called a great game and execution was there tonight."
So was the changeup, double what he's thrown in past starts.
"I think it’s more so mixing it in more," Eflin said. "It’s been feeling really good out of the hand recently. Been getting pretty good results on it. So it’s just honestly another pitch that people have to respect. It’s been a good first-strike pitch for me, it’s been good for weak contact and a couple strikeouts on it. But more so just trusting it.
"We knew kind of going in that it was going to be a good pitch to a lot of lefties. Just trying to induce weak contact as much as I can."
Westburg homered last night in his return from the injured list and he led off the second inning tonight with a fly ball double to right field. Colton Cowser struck out and Ramón Laureano lined into a 1-4 double play.
Mullins, who also returned last night, led off the third with a double and Urías followed with his first homer since April 30 – on a first-pitch sinker from Casey Mize that cleared the left field wall. The Orioles were 3-for-27 with runners in scoring position in the first four games against the Tigers and 1-for-6 after the third inning, but they led 2-0.
"Urí is a good player," Westburg said. "We’re lucky to have him on our club. I wouldn't want him to be torching us playing for another club. So, I'm happy we’ve got him. I think he's overlooked in the grand scheme of things and how big a role he's played since he's been here in Baltimore. So, yeah, I love Urí. Happy for him. Hope he keeps swinging it because he's helping us out a ton.”
"I don’t know what’s going to happen, honestly," Urías said. "But Mansolino just told me to be ready, he’ll consider me to be in the lineup every day, but we’ll see what happens on those days.”
They were 1-for-9 after Westburg led off the fourth with a walk, Cowser singled and the next three batters were retired. They were 1-for-11 after Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson singled with one out in the fifth and were stranded. They were 1-for-12 after Laureano and Urías singled in the sixth, the latter against reliever Tyler Holton with two outs.
Rutschman opened the seventh with a double and scored on Henderson’s left-on-left RBI single off Holton for a 3-1 lead.
Félix Bautista was warming for a save situation that never arrived to him. Gregory Soto handled the ninth with ease while resting on a huge cushion.
"It’s a nice lineup when you look at it," Mansolino said. "I give credit to the guys that were in the lineup the last couple of weeks. We rolled off some wins and hung in there. When you write that thing out there, one through nine, and you look at six, seven, eight, nine specifically, man you feel pretty good. You have Cedric Mullins hitting down toward the bottom. Laureano I think was seven tonight. Urías huge two-run homer there. He’s having a nice little year.
"Definitely gives you length, gives you options, makes it tougher to use the bullpen against, the whole deal.”
"You've seen it the last two years," Westburg said, "what the offense is capable of doing and what we have now is plenty good enough to go out and win series and win ballgames and with guys coming back even off the IL, it's going to just keep getting better. So it's exciting to kind of dream on what could happen and what we could do and just the possibilities that this club has.”
* Double-A Chesapeake pitcher Trace Bright came out of tonight’s game with right elbow discomfort.
Bright allowed one hit in 3 2/3 scoreless innings to leave his ERA at 5.17. MLB Pipeline ranks him as the organization’s No. 25 prospect.
Triple-A Norfolk’s Hudson Haskin was removed after being hit by a pitch in the fourth inning.
