BALTIMORE — Manager Brandon Hyde admitted earlier in the day that “it’s hard right now” to stay positive and patient as the Orioles limp down the final stretch.
The last two weeks have been disastrous with Baltimore losing four straight series to fall from a half-game up in the AL East to five games behind the first-place New York Yankees entering Thursday’s series finale with San Francisco. The pregnant pauses from players have become more frequent when asked what needs to happen for the Orioles to regain their footing. Hours after general manager Mike Elias predicted a breakout Tuesday, Baltimore lost 10-0 to the Giants, which featured Craig Kimbrel’s last appearance before the nine-time All-Star closer was designated for assignment.
Earlier this week, star shortstop Gunnar Henderson described the second-half skid as “kind of weird” and “out of sync” in regards to the club not being able to bounce back as it had at other points over the last couple seasons. Friday will mark exactly three months since the Orioles demolished the Yankees in a 17-5 final in the Bronx, which represented the season’s high-water mark and finished off a 4-2 stretch against the two best teams in baseball — Philadelphia and New York — at the time. Standing at a superb 49-25 on June 20, the Orioles have since gone an ugly 36-43.
Suffice to say, the Orioles desperately needed Anthony Santander’s walk-off home run in Thursday’s 5-3 win over the Giants, especially after Seranthony Dominguez had just blown his first save in 10 chances since becoming Baltimore’s closer. Losing a game they’d led since the fourth inning would have only added to what’s looked and felt like a doom spiral recently.
“It was a breath of fresh air, for sure,” said veteran pitcher Zach Eflin, who tossed six innings of two-run ball for his seventh quality start in eight appearances for Baltimore. “A lot of emotion in the win today with Tony’s walk-off homer. I think that helps everybody out, so we’re looking to take that momentum into the next series.”
We’ll see if they do that this weekend against the upstart Detroit Tigers, who have won nine of 11 and took a series against the Orioles last weekend to keep their playoff hopes alive.
Santander’s game-winning blast wasn’t the only good news Thursday as infielders Jordan Westburg and Ramon Urias began their respective rehab assignments at Triple-A Norfolk and first baseman Ryan Mountcastle could join them this weekend. Lefty reliever Danny Coulombe appears on the verge of being activated after a third straight scoreless rehab appearance for the Tides on Wednesday, and right-handed setup man Yennier Cano threw a scoreless eighth inning Thursday to calm concerns about him nursing some forearm tightness over the last eight days.
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Though rehabbing starter Grayson Rodriguez’s October status remains murky at best with just nine regular-season games to go, the Orioles are getting closer to welcoming back the rest of their injured players who weren’t already lost for the year.
It’s go time.
That also applies to the entire offense as Baltimore entered Thursday ranking last in the AL in runs scored for the month of September. Healthy versions of Westburg and Urias would certainly help from the right side of the plate, but the Orioles need All-Star catcher Adley Rutschman — who had an RBI double on Thursday — to awaken from his second-half nightmare. Stuck in an extended slump that resulted in a three-game absence from the starting lineup, 20-year-old rookie second baseman Jackson Holliday had two hits Wednesday and a go-ahead two-run single on Thursday, the best he’s looked at the plate in weeks.
They haven’t been the only ones struggling, of course.
“We have a lot of talent in that room and guys that have performed,” Hyde said before Thursday’s game. “I have high expectations. I understand how hard this game is. I understand how hard it is to hit right now, and there’s a lot of low averages around the league. There’s a lot of low [on-base plus slugging percentages] around the league. But I think that we’re a better offense than we’ve shown.”
As deflating as the vibes have felt for quite some time with the injuries and awkward roster turnover, the Orioles still own a three-game lead over Kansas City for the top wild-card spot. The division is much more of a long shot after dropping eight of 10, but three games remain with the Yankees next week to try to erase a four-game deficit with nine games to go. Regardless, the calendar sets up for Eflin and ace Corbin Burnes to be on turn for the first two games of an AL Wild Card Series, and the rotation has been the bright spot this month, offering hope even in the wake of the underwhelming Rodriguez update this week.
The Orioles also know it doesn’t take much for a scuffling team to catch fire since they were the victims of that last October. At this point a year ago, Texas was winding down a maddening 40-41 second half that included taking over first place in the AL West in late September before losing it over the regular season’s final weekend and settling for a wild-card spot.
8We know what happened from there as the Rangers regrouped to quickly dispose of Tampa Bay and meet the AL-best Orioles in the Division Series.
“We ran into it last year. Texas finished the season terribly, flew across country, and all of a sudden kind of got pissed off and started to swing the bat, and we ran into it,” Hyde said. “They rolled it all the way through the World Series, so it’s definitely possible. We’ll see.”
There are plenty of reasons to doubt and dismiss an injury-ravaged club that’s been mediocre at best for as long as it was really good over the season’s first three months. But we’ll see if Santander’s heroics can serve as the spark the Orioles desperately need with October rapidly approaching.
A reeling team was happy to be able to take a breath at the very least.
“That’s a reminder of who we are,” Santander said. “Close game, and then we stay positive, we stay together. … That’s no pressure at all. It’s baseball.”
