‘Level-headed’ O’s complete another dramatic win to avoid sweep
BALTIMORE — Whenever supervisor Brandon Hyde walks by way of the Orioles’ clubhouse earlier than a sport — whether or not it’s forward of a day or an evening contest, at dwelling or on the highway, coming off of both a win or a loss — he notices his gamers’ assured demeanors stay the identical. It’s a telltale signal of a very good workforce.
“That’s a great attribute,” Hyde stated. “For the guys that have been here through some tough years, I think they’re really excited to play, and they’ve come back from losses before. They’ve just got a great way about them.”
The mindset carries onto the sector and stays it doesn’t matter what occurs on the market. Even in tougher instances, equivalent to Sunday afternoon’s eighth inning at Camden Yards.
Lights-out reliever Yennier Cano had a uncommon off displaying and allowed the red-hot Rangers to tie the sport. No downside. The O’s offense — which had been principally dormant for the reason that first — responded with a direct rally, as Austin Hays delivered a go-ahead RBI single and lifted Baltimore to a bounce-back 3-2 win.
The Orioles (34-19) once more have the second-best file in MLB, narrowly forward of the Rangers (33-19). Baltimore averted getting swept for the primary time this 12 months and halted its shedding streak earlier than it reached a season-high-tying three video games.
There was by no means any panic.
“We feel like we have a chance to win every game, we’re never out of it,” Hays stated. “We know at any point, we can chip away and really get a rally going. It was no different today. We knew we had a shot the whole game.”
Hays is among the many Orioles’ veteran gamers who endured the powerful instances. He performed 185 video games from 2019-21, a stretch throughout which the workforce posted a .341 win proportion in its first three seasons beneath Hyde.
Now, Hays is having fun with the opposite facet (the profitable facet) of Baltimore’s rebuild. And the 27-year-old outfielder is contributing to it in a giant manner.
With his 3-for-4 efficiency on Sunday — which featured a pair of RBI singles and a triple — Hays is batting .444 (12-for-27) with seven RBIs over his previous seven video games. His first run-scoring knock within the finale vs. Texas got here throughout a two-run first, whereas his second got here shortly after Cano gave up a two-out RBI double to Corey Seager within the eighth that tied the sport at 2 — solely the third run allowed by Cano in 27 2/3 innings this 12 months.
Hays leads the Orioles in batting common (.322), slugging proportion (.523) and OPS (.887).
“He is playing some great baseball,” Hyde stated. “I like the way he’s using the whole field right now. The way he plays defense is special. And he’s taking great at-bats for us.”
Hays’ late heroics salvaged a principally nice day for a Baltimore pitching employees that cooled off a Texas offense averaging 6.1 runs per sport this season (and 6.6 over its earlier 26 video games getting into Sunday). Kyle Bradish allowed just one run over a season-high-tying 6 2/3 innings, whereas nearer Félix Bautista struck out the facet in a 1-2-3 ninth for his thirteenth save.
On May 5, the Orioles started a stretch of twenty-two consecutive video games towards groups that had profitable data at that time (and all of them nonetheless do). Baltimore went 13-9 over that span, bookended by its solely collection losses of the month, because it additionally dropped two of three at Atlanta from May 5-7.
In between then and this weekend, the O’s notched collection wins over the MLB-best Rays, Pirates, Blue Jays and Yankees, whereas splitting a set with the Angels.
“It was definitely a tough stretch, a lot of good teams,” Bradish stated. “I think, moving forward, everybody knows that we’re legit this year, that last year wasn’t a fluke.”
The 83-win 2022 season is what Baltimore’s confidence stems from, in fact. It additionally helps the O’s have gotten off to a powerful begin this 12 months. After posting a 19-9 file in March/April, they’ve already clinched one other profitable month in May, having gone 15-10 up to now.
Playing in a extremely aggressive American League East during which all 5 groups are above .500, the Orioles’ schedule by no means lightens up for lengthy. Fortunately for them, their levelheaded method helps them excel, even towards prime groups — similar to on Sunday.
“We played really well against tough competition,” Hays stated. “Just proves to ourselves, if we didn’t already know it, that we can play with anybody in this league and we have a chance to win when we show up to the ballpark night in and night out.”
