ST PETERSBURG, Fla — The Orioles faithful at Tropicana Field announced their presence loud and clear Friday night.
The “O” during the national anthem was noticeably loud for a road ballpark, although less so given the Tampa Bay Rays’ historically abysmal attendance. A contingent of Baltimore fans sat all over “The Trop” to make up a solid portion of the announced 17,822 in attendance, with their orange shirts standing out among the many empty blue seats and their occasional “Let’s Go O’s” chants taking hold.
The only thing louder was the ball coming off the Orioles’ bats.
Anthony Santander, Ryan Mountcastle and Jordan Westburg each hit homers to lead Baltimore to a 6-3 win over the Rays. Santander struck first with a solo shot in the second, while Mountcastle’s two-run homer in the fifth broke a tie and Westburg’s two-run, opposite-field blast in the eighth provided welcomed insurance.
“No matter who’s in the lineup, one through nine is potentially dangerous,” Westburg said. “Last year when I was up, that’s kind of how I felt. It was a different person every night who contributed, and I think it’s the same this year. No matter what our lineup is, the person in the box with the opportunity, it seems like that guy usually comes through for us. And that guy could be anybody.”
The power surge is no surprise. Baltimore leads the major leagues with 98 long balls in 62 games, extending its lead to five ahead of the New York Yankees. They have five hitters with 10 or more homers, including all three sluggers who went deep Friday, Gunnar Henderson and Adley Rutschman. The only run the Orioles scored that didn’t cross the plate via homer was on Ramón Urías’ second-inning double.
“Our lineup is really deep. We’re really balanced,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “I thought that was a really well-played game. I thought we pitched extremely well, and we got some timely hits.”
Starting pitcher Cole Irvin was far from remarkable, surrendering eight hits and 10 batted balls above 95 mph. But he battled through those hard hits for another solid start — an early season trend that’s becoming a regular occurrence. Irvin (6-2) allowed three runs (two earned) across 5 2/3 innings.
The fact that two earned runs across 5 2/3 frames results in Irvin’s ERA increasing — it’s now 2.87 — is further evidence that he’s not the same pitcher he was last season. Over his past 43 1/3 innings as a starting pitcher, Irvin has a 1.25 ERA, including 6 1/3 innings of two-run ball against the Rays last weekend.
“I felt good. This start, I felt a lot more like myself in terms of pitching, in and out with a little bit more command,” Irvin said. “They’re not an easy team to face twice in a week. … All around great game for the team. It was a lot of fun.”
Jacob Webb relieved Irvin with two runners in scoring position in the sixth, escaping the jam with a lineout by José Caballero that left fielder Colton Cowser deftly tracked to catch. Webb stayed in to pitch the seventh, and setupman Yennier Cano and closer Craig Kimbrel followed with scoreless frames to slam the door.
Kimbrel’s three-up, three-down ninth served as a bounce back from his blown save Wednesday. The save is the 14th of his season and 431st of his illustrious career.
The win is the Orioles’ 40th of the season. In 2021, when they went 1-18 against the Rays, Baltimore didn’t win its 40th game until Aug. 26. At 40-22, Baltimore is 3 1/2 games back of the American League East-leading Yankees (45-20).
If the Orioles win any of the next three games at “The Trop,” they will extend their franchise-record streak of avoided series losses against the AL East to 21. The last time they dropped a divisional series was April 2023.
While the club is 14-6 against the AL East this season, Westburg said the games don’t feel that way.
“It feels tight, I’m not going to lie, especially these in-division games,” Westburg said. “The stress level is always a little bit higher. There’s a little bit more weight to every pitch. These games mean a lot, and not only to us, but to fans, to staff. It means a lot to everybody, because we know this division is an absolute dogfight, and it’s going to come down to the very end of the season.”
As Santander got off to a slow start this season, Hyde said the switch-hitter’s struggles timing up heaters was a large reason. He’s had no trouble with that recently, evidenced by him turning on a 93 mph fastball from Rays starter Aaron Civale above the zone and clobbering it over the right field wall to give Baltimore a 1-0 lead.
Two weeks ago, Santander, a free agent this offseason, was hitting .202 with a .696 OPS. In 12 games since, he’s slashing .326/.408/.698 — good for a 1.106 OPS — to reestablish himself as one of Baltimore’s best sluggers. With homers in four of his past seven games, Santander ranks second on the Orioles with 13 home runs, one ahead of Rutschman and six behind Henderson.
“It seems like he’s heating up,” Westburg said. “It seems like his at-bats — I’ve been able to hit behind him a lot recently — are ultra competitive. … That’s who he is. That’s the Tony we know is going to show up. It was just a matter of time.”
Urías’ double — his seventh straight game with a hit to emerge from his early season slump — scored a hustling Cowser from first. The 24-year-old was originally called out of the plate, but the replay review showed he narrowly touched the plate before Rays catcher Alex Jackson tagged his arm.
Tampa Bay (31-32) cut its 2-0 deficit in half with a solo shot from Jose Siri in the second. Amed Rosario’s sacrifice fly tied the game in the third, and Taylor Walls’ single followed by a throwing error from Henderson at shortstop brought home an unearned run that put the Rays down 4-3 in the sixth. But Irvin worked through those jams, and Webb backed him up to strand two runners in the sixth before bridging the game to Cano and Kimbrel.
“I’m fired up for Cole,” Westburg said. “That’s my guy, first and foremost. He just seems to get on the mound and have this bulldog mentality. … I can’t say enough good things about Cole as a person, and then just what he’s doing on the mound, too, is incredible.”
Mountcastle’s homer was the latest example of the 27-year-old’s freakish power. It appeared he popped up on an inside sinker, but he muscled the pitch 333 feet just inside the right field foul pole for his 11th big fly of the year. Westburg’s was his 10th after he poked an 88.4 mph cutter from Chris Devenski 369 feet to right field.
“We’ve got a lot of pop,” Irvin said. “Anywhere in our lineup, we can do damage. It’s pretty fun to watch every single night. You just don’t know when we’re going to explode.”
Around the horn
• The Orioles finally announced a starting pitching schedule. After days of an unclear rotation picture, Hyde provided clarity before Friday’s game. Kyle Bradish is getting two extra rest days and will take the ball Saturday, while right-handers Grayson Rodriguez and Corbin Burnes will start on turn Sunday and Monday, respectively. The lack of communication raised questions about Bradish’s health months after the right-hander received platelet-rich plasma injections for a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament, but he threw a bullpen session Friday and will pitch Saturday.
• Austin Hays’ X-ray came back negative, Hyde said, but the area around the outfielder’s ribs is still bruised after being hit by a pitch. “It’s pretty sore,” Hyde said. “Glad about the X-ray, that was a relief, honestly.” Hyde said Hays would test out his swing before the game before the skipper would determine his availability Friday. Hays did not appear in the contest.
• Second baseman Jorge Mateo, who is on the seven-day injured list for concussion symptoms, took ground balls Friday as part of his ramp up to potentially return next week. Mateo, who was placed on the IL after an incidental hit to the head from a teammate’s bat in the on-deck circle, is still in concussion protocol, Hyde said. He’s eligible to return from the IL on Monday.
• Closer Félix Bautista played catch at Tropicana Field before the game as part of his rehabilitation from the Tommy John elbow reconstruction surgery he underwent in October. Bautista, who is expected to miss the entire 2024 season but be healthy for the start of 2025, is normally working out at the team’s facility in nearby Sarasota. “Awesome to see him,” Hyde said. “He looks amazing, he’s in unbelievable shape. I watched him throw, he’s throwing the ball great. Just to have him around, honestly, brings a smile to everybody’s face. Just such a warm guy and everybody loves him. To have him around here, it’s awesome.” Right-hander Tyler Wells was also with the team in St. Petersburg as he prepares to undergo season-ending UCL surgery later this month.
• Triple-A Norfolk infielder Terrin Vavra, who made his MLB debut in 2022 and was on Baltimore’s opening day roster last year, was placed on the IL on Friday with a groin strain, the Orioles said. Vavra’s 2023 campaign was derailed because of shoulder surgery, and now this season is being impacted by injury, too.
Orioles at Rays
Saturday, 4:10 p.m.
TV: MASN2
Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM
