Orioles’ revamped bullpen alignment works like a charm, secures 4-2 win over D’Backs

The O’s used Craig Kimbrel in the seventh, Albert Suárez as a fireman and Yennier Cano as the closer to cobble together a tight victory.

It was a night that featured a little bit of everything. The Orioles’ owner dousing fans from a hose. A radically reimagined Birds bullpen getting key outs. And, most shockingly, a rare O’s win in their City Connect uniforms. The end result was a 4-2 Orioles victory over the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks, maintaining their half-game lead in the AL East and extending their sweepless streak to 104.

It was a rainy, chilly night in Baltimore, but that didn’t dampen the spirits of the 27,703 fans at Camden Yards, who roared their approval when new Orioles owner David Rubenstein arrived in section 86 to take the reins as Mr. Splash in the second inning. The O’s players, too, must have been excited about the emergence of Rubensplash, because they chose just that inning to string together a multi-run rally.

Ryan Mountcastle and Anthony Santander got the fun started with back-to-back singles to open the frame, and Colton Cowser lofted a fly to deep left field that would’ve been into the seats under Oriole Park’s old dimensions. Under the new ones, of course, it remained in play, and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. somehow snared it despite getting himself so turned around that he was facing the wall. No matter; Jordan Westburg promptly ripped a double to left-center, plating Mountcastle with the game’s first run, and Rubensplash hosed down the already rain-soaked fans in the Bird Bath.

With two in scoring position, the badly slumping Cedric Mullins managed a POFO (Productive Out for Orioles), tapping a grounder to the drawn-back second baseman to plate Santander from third. That’ll work. More hosing commenced in the Splash Zone, and the Orioles had a 2-0 lead. Thank you for your service, Mr. Rubenstein. The Birds later added a run in the fifth on a Ryan O’Hearn RBI single, though Arizona starter Brandon Pfaadt pitched well overall, tossing a quality start.

Meanwhile, O’s starter Cole Irvin continued to impress. Entering the night with 20.2 scoreless innings, Irvin added another two to that tally. He battled through a long first inning to strand two runners, finally retiring Oriole killer Randal Grichuk on a flyout after a 10-pitch battle. His second inning was much easier, an eight-pitch frame.

But the Apple TV+ announcers played with fire in the third when they started discussing Irvin’s scoreless innings streak, noting that he was closing in on Mike Mussina for the longest of the wild card era. They were literally mid-sentence when Ketel Marte crushed an opposite-field home run into the right-field bleachers, Irvin’s first run allowed in nearly a month. I don’t normally believe in jinxes, but yeesh, that timing was sus. “Apologies to Cole for ruining the scoreless streak by talking about it,” said analyst Ryan Spilborghs.

Still, Irvin turned in another fine outing. He retired six of seven batters in the fourth and fifth, striking out three, before running into some trouble in the sixth. With a runner aboard and two outs, Irvin couldn’t retire the pesky Grichuk, who lashed a single to put two men on. At 95 pitches, Irvin was finished for the day. It was the first time in his last four outings that he didn’t work at least six innings. Still, he gave up only one run while he was in the game, though a second was charged to him when Albert Suárez let an inherited runner score on an Eugenio Suárez RBI single. I suppose you win this Battle of the Suárezes, Geno. The O’s right-hander at least induced a flyout to strand two more runners.

Then Brandon Hyde’s bullpen use got particularly interesting. In the top of the seventh, with a one-run lead, Hyde turned to…Craig Kimbrel. Yes, really! Coming off four terrible outings in his last five, Kimbrel appears to have officially lost the closer’s role. According to O’s reporters, Kimbrel was booed by many in the crowd as he was introduced, which…come on, people. I know he’s been struggling, but that’s classless.

Here, Hyde lined Kimbrel up against the 8-9-1 hitters in the D’Backs lineup, though it wasn’t exactly a low-leverage situation, as just one mistake would mean a tie game. Fortunately, Kimbrel made no such mistake. Blaze Alexander blazed a liner that Mountcastle snared at first, and Kimbrel then struck out Kevin Newman and retired Marte on a flyout. That’s a perfect inning, and suddenly O’s fans were cheering him again.

The Orioles added an insurance run in the seventh when Jorge Mateo did Jorge Mateo things, reaching on an infield single and then steaming all the way around the bases on Gunnar Henderson’s double to medium right-center. Hardly a runner in baseball would have scored from first on that hit, but Mateo, as we know, is not just any runner. He slid in safely and made it a 4-2 Orioles lead.

Hyde continued to mix and match his bullpen pieces to cover the final two innings. He began the eighth with Jacob Webb, who got two outs, but when Christian Walker walked and slugger Joc Pederson came up to pinch-hit, it was Cionel Pérez’s turn. The southpaw didn’t succeed at retiring the lefty, drilling Pederson in the elbow, but got Eugenio Suárez to ground out to strand the runners.

With Kimbrel obviously not closing tonight, Hyde turned to Yennier Cano for the save. Cano doesn’t have a great track record as a ninth-inning guy, and he made things tense by surrendering a leadoff double here, but he buckled down and got the job done. He struck out Blaze on a blazing, uh, changeup. Pinch-hitter Pavin Smith grounded to first. And Marte, representing the tying run, smoked a comebacker that deflected off Cano’s leg, but he recovered quickly enough to field it and throw him out at first.

Ball game over. Nothing to it. Tell ‘em, Rubensplash.