SEATTLE \u2013 The seismic shift in the Orioles\u2019 season has taken them from last call to bars raised.<\/p>\n
A rotation that ranked statistically among the worst in baseball is pushing its starters to keep performing at a much higher level. The group has registered a 2.11 ERA in the past 10 games, with two runs or fewer allowed in eight. The next man up must stand tall.<\/p>\n
The offense is delivering more often in the clutch, whether with powerful strokes or well-placed pokes. Runs aren\u2019t scoring in bunches, but the amount is sufficient.<\/p>\n
Heston Kjerstad tripled for the second time in three games, driving in two runs with two outs in the seventh inning to key the Orioles\u2019 3-2 victory over the Mariners at T-Mobile Park. He has four hits this month, three for extra bases.<\/p>\n
The Orioles are 24-36 overall and 9-8 under interim manager Tony Mansolino. They\u2019ve claimed back-to-back series for the first time and built their first five-game winning streak since June 7-12, 2024. They won a fourth straight road game in a single season for the first time since June 7-10, 2024.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the team\u2019s always been a little bit of an underdog,” Kjerstad said. “Definitely won a lot more the past two seasons and I think we\u2019re kind of getting back our mojo here the past week winning more games and just playing better baseball.\u201d<\/p>\n
They might never lose again.<\/p>\n
“No matter how you do it, winning\u2019s always gonna be a lot more fun than losing,” said Cade Povich. “The guys, we\u2019re having a great time, we\u2019re starting to really I think have more fun playing the game. Get behind, come back, get behind again, get a lead back and hold it. That\u2019s what we\u2019ve done in the past and it\u2019s great to see us do that again today.<\/p>\n
“Just like I said at the beginning of the year, we have a lot of guys on all ends of the field that are gonna compete and gonna do really well. Just waited for that turnaround to come, and I think we\u2019re starting to kind of find ourselves a little bit and get in a groove and gain some confidence back and really be the team that we know we are.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ram\u00f3n Ur\u00edas and Coby Mayo walked to bring Kjerstad to the plate against Carlos Vargas. He got his bat on a cutter down and in and pulled it into the right field corner for the Orioles\u2019 third hit of the night.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hitting the ball on the right part of the park, and it kind of bounced around the right field corner,” Kjerstad said. “Gives you a chance to get an extra base.\u201d<\/p>\n
“Oh, love to see that,” said Adley Rutschman. “Love to see him get a triple and get those legs moving a little bit. He\u2019s looked good. Guy just always has such an amazing attitude. Such a team ballplayer. So, nice to see him get a big hit for us tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n
“The ball off the bat, we\u2019re looking at it from our angle thinking it\u2019s going to hook foul, and it feels like it\u2019s hooked foul all year,” Mansolino said. “It stayed fair.<\/p>\n
“We\u2019re talking about momentum earlier today and things being contagious, and I feel like the runner in scoring position thing has been contagious in a negative way, and I feel like lately it\u2019s been contagious in a positive way. I feel like more guys are getting big hits in those types of spots. … Just feels like the at-bats have been a little bit better in those spots. Obviously, for Heston, to struggle the way he has and now, going back three or four games, there\u2019s been a lot of positive at-bats, positive signs, and we\u2019re excited for him right now.”<\/p>\n
The trip from home plate to third base came on legs that earlier had slammed into the wall in foul territory, leaving him grimacing and limping. He stayed in the game and had a major influence on it.<\/p>\n
\u201cDefinitely got my right knee again,” he said. “I banged it into the wall a couple times the past week or two trying to make some plays. But it\u2019s part of the game. You get beat up here and there. You just keep on making it through. The training staff\u2019s really good.\u201d<\/p>\n
Povich blanked the Mariners through three innings, just as he did to the Cardinals in his last outing. He had a brief stumble in the fourth, carried a 1-1 tie into the sixth and was done with only one out recorded.<\/p>\n
A hit batter and walk were followed by Cal Raleigh\u2019s RBI single, but the Orioles got him off the hook. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Povich was charged with two runs and four hits in 5 1\/3 innings, with one walk and five strikeouts. He came out after 86 pitches.<\/p>\n
The combination of Yennier Cano, Seranthony Dom\u00ednguez, Gregory Soto and F\u00e9lix Bautista tossed 3 2\/3 scoreless innings. Plate umpire Jeremy Rehak didn\u2019t give Soto a high strike on a 2-2 sinker with two outs in the eighth that led to a walk, but the left-hander struck out Raleigh with the count full.<\/p>\n
Bautista retired the side in order last night and escaped a jam tonight for his 11th save. Randy Arozarena reached on an infield single with one out for the only hit allowed by the bullpen, and Mitch Garver walked. Leody Taveras popped up and Rowdy Tellez flew out.<\/p>\n
Rutschman belted his sixth home run with two outs in the sixth inning to tie the score. Rutschman, playing in front of family and friends from Oregon, followed his three-hit game last night by launching a sinker 415 feet to right field at 108.3 mph.<\/p>\n
He was the final batter for Mariners starter Emerson Hancock, the sixth-overall pick in the 2020 draft.<\/p>\n
“He\u2019s hitting the ball hard,” Mansolino said. “The ball hitting the middle part of the field is good. When he\u2019s hitting the ball a couple hits the other way it feels like, hitting the ball hard through the middle, it\u2019s a really good sign for the kid. And he\u2019s home. There\u2019s something, you\u2019ve got a lot of people in the stands and maybe the focus level goes up, maybe comfort goes up when you see mom and dad and friends. But he\u2019s doing great right now.”<\/p>\n
The sixth inning could have buried the Orioles, but Raleigh was out trying for a double – Dylan Carlson to Gunnar Henderson to Jackson Holliday – and Henderson threw out J.P. Crawford at the plate on Julio Rodr\u00edguez\u2019s ground ball. The original safe call was overturned.<\/p>\n
Raleigh led off the fourth with a double on a fly ball down the right field line that eluded Kjerstad as he made a sliding attempt. Statcast gave it a 95 percent catch probability. Kjerstad was 100 percent in pain from his run-in with the wall.<\/p>\n
Rodr\u00edguez singled and Raleigh scored on Arozarena\u2019s 386-foot fly ball to the warning track in center field. Povich limited the damage by inducing a double play grounder from Garver.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s kind of been the thing with the bad starts this year,” Povich said. “Letting innings like that slip away. Instead of one run, it\u2019s maybe three, four, or even five. Just going on the attack and limited it to one was huge, and I think a big step forward as far as the stuff I\u2019ve been working on and looking at as far as limiting stuff like that when the pressure\u2019s on early in an inning.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hancock got his shutdown inning in the fifth after Colton Cowser\u2019s leadoff walk. Kjerstad grounded into a 3-6-3 double play.<\/p>\n
The first eight batters were retired before Carlson singled with two outs in the third and Holliday walked. Rutschman bounced out after the runners moved up on a wild pitch.<\/p>\n
Carlson extended his hitting streak to six games. Arozarena robbed him with a diving catch in the sixth.<\/p>\n
Ryan O\u2019Hearn\u2019s on-base streak ended at 19 games.<\/p>\n
His team kept rolling along.<\/p>\n
“Right now, it\u2019s a gritty group,” Mansolino said. “They\u2019re playing good, it\u2019s gritty. It\u2019s been good.”<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s awesome,” Rutschman said. “We\u2019re playing good ball right now. Pitching is doing amazing, hitters are picking up runs late, and it just feels like things are flowing a little bit. Like, our guys are playing together, picking each other up, and that\u2019s kind of what we\u2019ve done the last two years and it feels nice to play some games where things are coming together.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SEATTLE \u2013 The seismic shift in the Orioles\u2019 season has taken them from last call to bars raised.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":82022,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2374],"tags":[1079,143,47,2538,5,600,1752,4,125,579,578,20365,12642],"class_list":{"0":"post-82021","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-baltimore-orioles","8":"tag-adley-rutschman","9":"tag-baltimore","10":"tag-baltimore-orioles","11":"tag-baltimoreorioles","12":"tag-baseball","13":"tag-cade-povich","14":"tag-heston-kjerstad","15":"tag-mlb","16":"tag-orioles","17":"tag-orioles-featured","18":"tag-roch-kubatko","19":"tag-seattle-mainers","20":"tag-tony-mansolino"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82021"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82021\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}