Eflin’s second O’s start went well and the offense scored five runs off the best bullpen in the league
The Orioles won and played a great game! You love to see it. Zach Eflin pitched 6.1 strong innings, the offense came back from a deficit early and piled on later, and the defense actually wasn’t too bad! The end result was a solid 7-4 win.
Rookie pitcher Joey Cantillo held the Orioles in check for the first several innings. After an Austin Slater leadoff double, Cantillo retired 10 consecutive batters. He struck out four of those 10. The three-plus innings of shutdown baseball gave the Guardians a chance to jump out to a lead that they would hold for only a short time.
Eflin looked good tonight, but in the third he walked Steven Kwan ahead of rookie Ángel Martínez. Playing in his 27th game, he took Eflin deep. It wasn’t a terrible pitch from Eflin, a curve ball just below the strike zone, but Martínez connected for 356 feet. Just like that, the Orioles were down 2-0.
But the Orioles came right back with a run of singles. With one out, Gunnar Henderson singled. Anthony Santander followed with another, and then new Oriole Eloy Jiménez joined the party. His single knocked in Henderson and cut the Guardians’ lead in half. Both runners moved up on a ground out by Coby Mayo.
Colton Cowser came to the plate looking to knock in two, but he was thwarted thanks to a great play by Cleveland first baseman Josh Naylor. He made a great diving stop on a ball Cowser smashed up the first base side. The ball got caught in the webbing of Naylor’s glove, but Cowser would have reached no matter because Cantillo failed to cover first base. Santander scored the tying run, but Naylor’s grab kept the go-ahead run on third. James McCann flew out to end the inning.
Eflin saw traffic on the bases in the bottom of the third but got out of it. Andrés Giménez singled and looked like he’d be out on a double play ball. But Ryan Mountcastle made a high throw to Henderson at second base. Henderson hesitated and ended up not throwing. He may have had time but given how his defense has gone of late, I was ok with him not rushing it. The batter, Daniel Schneemann, was thrown out trying to steal to end the inning.
Cantillo was out of the game after four innings, meaning if the Orioles were going to go ahead they would have to do it against the best bullpen in baseball. (They did it)
The top of the 5th inning started with something you just love to see: a hit by Jackson Holliday. And it was a double! Holliday has looked more comfortable since his time spent down a triple-A and it’s great to see him making contact. Slater dropped a bunt for a single that might have gone foul if new pitcher Pedro Avila had let it keep rolling. But he didn’t and no one was covering first base for a possible out.
Holliday moved to third on the bunt and two batters later, came in to score on a single from Henderson. It was a nice night at the plate for Gunnar, who reached base three times. The Gunnar RBI put the Orioles ahead, 3-2, but that’s all they’d get. Santander grounded into a double play to end the inning.
Eflin sailed through the fifth and sixth innings, including handing Steven Kwan just his 32nd strikeout of the year. It was great to see the offense dig the team out of an early hold and even greater to see a pitcher who didn’t give any runs back.
Eflin started the seventh inning and got the first out. But after Schneemann singled, Brandon Hyde decided to pull him. Lefties were due up so Hyde went to Cionel Pérez. The Guardians sent back-to-back pinch hitters to the plate, both right-handed. Pérez didn’t mind, he retired them both.
Then came the eighth inning, which was very fun. After pinch-hitting, Jhonkensy Noel went to right field. This will be important in a minute.
Henderson led off with an impressive hustle double. Noel made a nice play on the ball and got it back to second as fast as possible, but Henderson executed a perfect slide on the inside of the bag to beat the tag. He popped up from the base looking intense and Gunnar-like and I loved it.
Santander followed with a liner that snuck through the middle of the infield. Henderson had to ensure it wasn’t caught so he only made it to third.
With runners on the corners, no outs, and the Orioles clinging to a one-run lead, Hyde went to his bench. Adley Rutschman pinch-hit for Jiménez and fouled off four straight pitches before lining a ball to right field. It looked like a sac fly for sure but then Noel fell down trying to make the play. He fell right down! The ball went past him to the wall. Both Henderson and Santander scored and Rutschman landed on third base with a triple.
The next batter up was Coby Mayo, who had put a charge into a few balls but still had no hits to show for it. Hyde went to the bench for Ryan O’Hearn, but before I could express much disappointment at seeing Mayo removed, O’Hearn doubled to right field. Rutschman scored and the Orioles held a 6-2 lead.
Cowser and McCann couldn’t move O’Hearn over, but with two outs Holliday got the job done. He singled to the outfield and O’Hearn came in to score the seventh run of the game for the O’s.
Brandon Hyde managed the lineup masterfully in the eighth inning. No one could predict Noel falling down but even without that Rutschman would have picked up one RBI and had a solid at-bat. And it would have been nice to see Mayo get a hit in the clutch, but the experience O’Hearn came through.
Now armed with a five-run lead, Hyde left Pérez in to start the bottom of the eighth. This was also a good move. If Pérez could have absorbed a few more outs, it would allow the bullpen to rest a bit. He couldn’t, though, but with the big lead it didn’t matter. His first batter reached and he was replaced by Sernanthony Domínguez.
Domínguez got his three outs and continued to look mostly impressive. He also gave up a monster homer to José Ramírez to cut the lead down to just three runs. Not ideal but sometimes that guy beats you. A lot of the time, actually. That’s the beauty of the offense putting up such a run cushion.
With Craig Kimbrel currently in one of his rough patches, Yennier Cano came on to pitch the ninth inning and had little trouble. He made a very nifty defensive play on a ground ball to start the inning. The next two outs were easy and Cano struck his pose to end the game with an Austin Hedges strikeout.
Orioles win, 7-4! Tomorrow they will try to salvage a series split with ace Corbin Burnes on the mound. Game time is 1:40 EDT.