Grayson Rodriguez was sharp, Gunnar did Gunnar things, and Mullins joined the dinger party
When the Orioles only scored two runs in five innings off of the ghost of Carlos Carrasco, I had a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. Carrasco has been terrible this year and Cleveland’s bullpen is the best in baseball. But late-inning home runs supported a strong start by Grayson Rodriguez. The five-game losing streak was snapped with a 4-2 Orioles victory.
After the latest stretch of starting pitching, Rodriguez tonight was just what the doctor ordered. He began with a nine-pitch first inning and closed out his night by striking out the side in the seventh. In between he gave up just two runs, both on solo home runs. The Guardians twice took the lead but never held it for more than a half-inning.
It looked in the first inning like the Orioles would jump out to an early lead off of Carrasco. Gunnar Henderson singled and walks from Adley Rutschman and Ryan Mountcastle loaded the bases with one away. But Anthony Santander flew out and Jordan Westburg was rung up on a pitch just outside of the strike zone to end the inning. They made Carrasco throw 30 pitches but ended up with nothing to show for it.
After watching the offense choke, it felt like a bad omen when the Guardians scored in the next half-inning. Jhonkensy Noel, making his major league debut, hit a two-out homer that landed 413 feet away in the bullpen. It was his first hit! I generally always root for guys making their debut, but I would rather he did that with the Orioles comfortably ahead.
Still, I was confident that one run wouldn’t win this game, and Henderson proved me right in the bottom half of the second. After Jorge Mateo doubled with two outs, Henderson hit a ball back up the middle for a single. Mateo raced home with the tying run. Adley Rutschman struck out to end the inning and Gunnar was stranded.
Grayson, meanwhile, was having a good but weird start. He didn’t allow a hit in the third or fourth innings, but he also hadn’t struck out a batter to that point. For a guy who strikes out over 10 batters per nine innings, it’s unusual. But his pitch count was under control, he wasn’t walking anyone, and the Guardians were getting some, but not a ton of, hard contact against him.
Until the fifth, when the dinger bug bit him again. This time it was Gabriel Arias, whose 108.1 mph hit sailed inside the foul pole in left field. It was the hardest-hit ball against Rodriguez all night. The homer gave the Guardians a 2-1 lead and when Austin Hedges doubled two batters later I worried that Rodriguez, like so many Orioles starting pitchers of late, was falling apart. But he was not. He got out of the inning without further damage and did not allow another runner to reach.
Once again, the Guardians scored a run and the Orioles answered right back. Mateo singled but, with Henderson at the plate, was thrown out easily trying to steal. Austin Hedges threw out both Cedric Mullins and Mateo without it being very close. Maybe don’t run on that guy. The caught stealing stung a little more when Henderson finished his at-bat by hitting his 26th home to center field. Gunnar does it all. Again, the game was tied.
With two outs in the sixth inning, Rodriguez punched out Tyler Freeman for his first strikeout of the day. He followed that up by striking out the side in the seventh inning, getting both of the previous home run hitters, Noel and Arias in the process. Just an outstanding game from Grayson.
He was rewarded with the win when the Orioles went ahead in the very next half-inning. Cedric Mullins, whose troubles this year have been well documented, not only hit a go-ahead homer, he launched a go-ahead homer. It sailed into the night over the flag court, landing on Eutaw Street. It was a beautiful shot.
I hoped that would open the floodgates but the next three batters made outs and it was time for Cionel Pérez to come in from the bullpen. When Pérez is on, he’s filthy, but he has had his troubles of late. With just a one-run lead, things felt precarious. But the good news is that Pérez was on tonight and that means he was filthy. He easily retired the side in order.
As the Orioles came to bat in the bottom of the eighth, their closer Craig Kimbrel was warming in the bullpen. As many Orioles fans are aware, Kimbrel had not yet successfully saved a game where he entered with a one-run lead. Did Ryan O’Hearn also know that? Who can say? But what I can say is that he turned the one-run lead into a two-run lead with a flag court home run of his own.
Two-run lead Kimbrel is a lot less scary, and he was able to close down the win with only a little drama. He struck out the first two batters but issued a walk to pinch hitter Josh Naylor. That brought Noel to the plate, who had already homered. Kimbrel made short work of the rookie, getting him to chase strike three well out of the strike zone.
Orioles win! The losing streak is over! Let’s never do that again.