PHILADELPHIA-What happened? Trevor Rogers often pitched against the Philadelphia Phillies when he was with the Miami Marlins with little success. Entering Wednesday’s game, he was 1-6 with a 6.71 ERA in 11 starts, and he’d given up 11 home runs in 52 1/3 innings.
While Rogers wasn’t spectacular on Wednesday, he was effective, allowing a run on eight hits and two walks in six innings. The 27-year-old left-hander was backed by a Coby Mayo three-run homer and enough offense for a 5-1 Orioles’ win before 42,030 at Citizens Bank Park.
“This outing was huge for me,” Rogers said. “Couldn’t tell you how many times they stuck it to me when I was in Miami. To go six solid innings with one-run baseball and get out of some tough jams and really give our team a chance.”
In the first two games of the series, the Orioles (52-63) were outscored by the Phillies (65-49), 18-3. They had lost five of six since the trade deadline.
“It feels great,” interim manager Tony Mansolino said. “You walk in here against this team, especially after getting your teeth kicked in for two nights, it’s easy to lay down at a 12:35 game when you’ve got Ranger Suárez on the mound in Philadelphia with the kind of the momentum they have and the lack thereof that we have.”
The Orioles scored four runs in the fourth against Ranger Suárez (8-5) when Gunnar Henderson and Adley Rutschman singled to start he inning. Jeremiah Jackson’s double scored Henderson and Mayo’s fourth home run gave the Orioles a 4-0 lead.
Rogers gave up a run in the fourth on Trea Turner’s RBI single
Alex Jackson doubled and scored on Jackson Holliday’s single in the seventh for a 5-1 lead.
Dietrich Enns pitched two scoreless innings, allowing a hit and striking out five. Keegan Akin worked a hitless ninth. The Orioles threw three lefties at the Phillies.
Vidal Bruján became the 57th player used by the Orioles when he was inserted as a defensive replacement. He singled in the eighth in his first plate appearance.
Dylan Carlson was hitless in four at-bats, and he’s 0-for-28.
How hard was it for Rogers to beat the Phillies? Mansolino said that the Phillies, who lead the National League East, may be the best team the Orioles have faced this season.
“This is a pretty good team,” Mansolino said. “That Cubs team was solid. The Mets team, especially now with what they did with the bullpen there, that Mets team is going to be really good. But this team right here with those three guys at the top of the lineup, this is a team that’s going to contend for the World Series.”
Turner had two hits and a walk in three plate appearances against Rogers. He struck out Kyle Schwarber twice on changeups in three hitless at-bats, and Bryce Harper had a single in three at-bats. Nick Castellanos was 0-for-3 against Rogers.
“It’s one of the toughest in baseball, if not the toughest,” Rogers said about the Phillies’ lineup. “You’ve got veterans up and down the lineup, and they’re not going to go away from their approach.
“They’re good at adjusting midgame. It’s a constant battle moving the ball around, in and out, up and down, not letting them see the same thing twice and not getting predictable. Alex [Jackson] did an unbelievable job back there, and we had a really good game plan, just constantly mixing and moving the ball around.”
Mansolino has enjoyed watching Rogers grow this season. He’s now 5-2 with a 1.44 ERA.
“He’s still reestablishing himself in the big leagues right now,” Mansolino said. “He established himself in ‘21, and because of injuries and things that he went through, he lost his footing here a little bit. We’re watching him every day kind of get back to the profile and the guy that he was. The way this level is, the way this division is, it’s really hard. We are incredibly optimistic about him, but we also know we’ve got a long way to go — and we’re going to need him to do the same thing next year.”
How much is Mayo improving? Mayo’s fourth home run was 421 feet, his longest, and he’s enjoying playing every day.
“They’re constantly telling me, ‘You suck today, you’re going to be playing tomorrow, you suck that day, you’re going to play the next day.’ So it doesn’t really matter what I do that night. It’s about how I can kind of roll over the next day and play with a clear mind and just look forward to the next at-bat.”
Mayo is working regularly on first base defense with John Mabry, the Orioles’ special adviser.
“Coaching staff’s been great with me,” Mayo said. “Constant communication and they believe in me, the work that we’ve been putting in. They’re not putting any pressure on me whatsoever. And they know what kind of player I am and what kind of player I can be in this league, and just having confidence in me helps a lot.”
Who is Dietrich Enns? The Orioles acquired Enns at the trade deadline for Detroit, and he’s struck out eight batters in 3 2/3 innings in two outings.
“He’s 34 years old. He has a slow heartbeat,” Mansolino said. “He has good stuff, better stuff than we thought when he showed up.”
Mansolino has seen how left-handers have given the Orioles trouble in the postseason the last two years as well as in the regular season this year.
“These kind of bulk-inning lefties, how they rolled right through us. Watching Dietrich and how he kind of navigated two innings, kind of reminiscent of what teams have deployed against us, and it worked out today. Hopefully, it works out in the future.”
What’s the latest on Tyler O’Neill and other injured Orioles? Mansolino said that Tyler O’Neill, who injured his right wrist on Tuesday night, would get an MRI on Thursday.
“After we get the imaging tomorrow, we’ll have a better idea of what it looks like,” Mansolino said. “There’s a little bit of progress, but he’ll be out today.”
As a precaution, the Orioles added utility player Vimael Machin to the medical taxi squad.
Machin, who last played in the major leagues for Oakland in 2022, hit .401 in Mexico last year. He signed a minor league contract with the Orioles and was with the team during spring training, and hit .294 with 15 home runs and 69 RBIs in 97 games for Triple-A Norfolk with an .835 OPS.
He watched as many of his teammates were called up to the Orioles and wondered if he’d be next.
“You have that thought in the back of your head,” Machin said. “At the same time, that makes you keep doing better. It’s a business. You just try to be patient, and the way I was doing it when I was down there, whenever they need me, I’ll be ready for it.”
Infielder Jorge Mateo hasn’t played since June 5th, and he’s on the 60-day injured list with a strained left hamstring.
“It sounds like Jorgie’s been running lately,” Mansolino said. “He started to get up to some higher speeds on the ground. I fully expect to see Mateo as early as early September possibly if all goes perfectly well.”
Catcher Gary Sánchez is on the 10-day injured list with a sprained right knee, and he should be able to play sometime in September, Mansolino said, but he won’t be ready as early as Mateo.
What does it mean? The Orioles have a difficult schedule in the season’s last seven weeks, including series with Seattle, Houston, Boston, New York, the Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego and Detroit.
What’s the stat of the day? Alex Jackson has nine hits with the Orioles, all extra-base hits, a rare feat.
What’s the word? “It’s not like we expect it but now like we’re starting to kind of say like, ‘OK, Trevor, you need to give us six, seven, eight innings every time.’”-Mayo on Rogers
What’s next? After Thursday’s offday, the Orioles open a three-game series with the Athletics on Friday night at 7:05 p.m. Tomoyuki Sugano (8-5, 4.42) will start for the Orioles. The Athletics have yet to name a starter.
Call for questions: Most weekdays, I’ll be answering at least one Orioles question. Please send yours to: Rich@BaltimoreBaseball.com