Mired in their longest losing streak in over two years, the Orioles needed Grayson Rodriguez to be the stopper on Wednesday night.
The 24-year-old right-hander was up to the challenge against a tough Cleveland lineup, allowing just two runs and five hits while matching his season high with seven innings to earn the victory in a 4-2 final. It was far from the most dominant version of Rodriguez that we’ve seen as he didn’t record a strikeout against the first 22 hitters he faced and induced only five swinging strikes over his first 85 pitches of the night.
With the Guardians being one of the most difficult teams to strike out in baseball, the hard-throwing Rodriguez said he wasn’t surprised.
“I knew that they were going to swing the bat. They’re a good two-strike team,” Rodriguez said. “I really wasn’t expecting a lot of strikeouts coming into it. I was going to hopefully use that to my advantage. I think pitching seven innings, we had a good plan.”
He was still able to empty the tank at an elite level, striking out the final four batters he faced on changeups and inducing seven whiffs on his final 12 pitches. A Cedric Mullins home run in the bottom half of the seventh gave Baltimore a 3-2 lead and the eventual win to avoid a three-game sweep.
After more than a week of mostly miserable starting pitching, the Orioles were eager to take what Rodriguez provided.
“That was a great start. Kind of back on track,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “He had a little hiccup there in Houston, but he pitched like he did a couple starts before that. Once again, just learning how to pitch. The changeup got better. I thought he was executing well [and] getting ahead of hitters. Just a couple solo homers there, and besides that, not a whole lot of traffic. Outstanding job going seven innings for us.”
With Corbin Burnes a pending free agent and Kyle Bradish now out until at least late next season, Rodriguez is the most important pitcher the Orioles have for both the present and the future. Burnes is the undisputed ace of the 2024 rotation, of course, but Rodriguez looking like a serious No. 2 starter or better would make it much easier for general manager Mike Elias to fortify the rotation for both the stretch run and next season if Burnes indeed signs elsewhere.
In 14 starts covering 82 1/3 innings this season, Rodriguez has pitched to a rock-solid but unspectacular 3.72 ERA, a mark that was dinged by his poor seven-run outing against the Astros last Friday night. But Wednesday was the most recent example of Rodriguez stepping up in a time of need and displaying top-of-the-rotation makeup.
It was nearly two weeks ago that Bradish exited his last start with elbow discomfort and five Baltimore relievers covered six innings in a loss to Philadelphia. With the Orioles light in the bullpen and feeling down about Bradish’s inevitable fate the following day, Rodriguez shook off a rocky beginning against the NL-leading Phillies to pitch a season-high seven innings of two-run ball to earn the win.
Last September, the Orioles were in the midst of a much more concerning losing streak that enabled Tampa Bay to pull into a first-place tie in the AL East. Rodriguez took the ball the next evening and turned in the best performance of his young career, tossing eight shutout innings to best Tyler Glasnow and the Rays. The Orioles regained sole possession of first place that night and didn’t relinquish it again on the way to a division title and 101 wins.
The Orioles need more of that from Rodriguez for the remainder of 2024 and beyond.
We’re approaching the one-year mark of his return to the major league rotation after last season’s demotion in late May, and the results support why the Orioles remain bullish on the 2018 first-round pick. Since mid-July of last year, Rodriguez has gone 14-5 with a 3.17 ERA in 27 starts covering 159 innings. He’s struck out 162 and walked just 46 while allowing 13 homers over that span.
No, it hasn’t been seamless with his nightmare postseason start and a brief stint on the injured list with right shoulder inflammation in May, but Rodriguez has to be “the guy” more than ever with how murky the rotation picture looks for the foreseeable future.
On Wednesday, he was just that to help the Orioles snap out of their funk and move to one game behind the New York Yankees for first place.
“He was huge. He came through for the bullpen for sure being able to go through seven,” Mullins said. “I love what I saw out of him. Just the competitiveness to go out there and continue to grind, that’s what we needed. That’s what he gave.”
