Big Blasts Power Orioles to 7-5 Win Over Mariners

Adley Rutschman’s hamstring, something Orioles rookie skipper Craig Albernaz was reticent to speak about for the better part of four days while unable to stop yapping about his other catcher’s abdominal and wrist injuries, took quite kindly to the extended rest Thursday.

Rutschman returned to the lineup for the first time since Saturday – after one of the most bizarre self-inflicted tempests you could imagine and took to doing something he has relished through his career, smashing his hometown team, the Seattle Mariners. Rutschman keyed a rare early-outburst for the O’s with a two-run double in the third as part of a six-run outburst, and when starter Kyle Bradish melted down in the fourth Rutschman cooly placed the ball opposite field in the fifth to make it 7-5, which provided the final score at Camden Yards to split the four-game series.

Rutschman, who served as the DH as it was seemed 21-year old Samuel Basallo was ready to catch again, has been stout from both sides of the plate this season after falling into a two-season funk in all aspects of play. The problem is keeping him in the lineup enough, as this front office is prone to giving him extreme rest and recovery.

He had plenty of company Thursday in the big hit department for an offense that has been feast or famine. Colton Cowser got in a fastball count – his forte – and mashed a ball 419 opposite field. Pete Alonso, who seemingly has been trying to do too much opposite field and not pulling the ball nearly enough, opted to take on left field and destroyed a ball 439 feet off normally-elite starter Bryan Woo.

"There's no feeling like it in the world," Alonso told ESPN after the game of the crushing contact he made, getting his arms fully extended through the ball. "You can' replicate it. It’s a really special feeling when you get one like that."

And it turned out they would need an outburst, because Bradish was arguably worse than Woo.

Poor Outing For Bradish

The undercurrent to the Orioles recent shocking 10-4 run (including a 7-3 homestand) was that it was largely fueled by superior starting pitching. It always seemed unsustainable, many of the peripheral numbers (lot of walks, not enough strikeouts, not enough out pitches, these same guys being shelled most of the year).

And the regression is here.

Bradish, who must be their ace, was roughed up for the second straight start, this one particularly troubling in that he was staked to a 6-1 lead in the third and gave back four runs in the fourth, yielding a homer to open the game and two more in the same third inning, and he was off the mound by the fifth.

Bradish set a career high for homers allowed and seemed over-amped from the get go, leaning on velocity and chasing strikeouts. It worked for one trip through the lineup, but this outing also pointed to just how crucial Brandon Young has been to the rotation; but having Young as your most consistent starter is courting disaster.

Perhaps the Orioles pushing back Bradish’s impending Tommy John surgery as long as they did – having it impact three seasons and truncate his innings pitched massively across 2023 and 2024 - has something to do with his oscillation. This organization is a bit of a laughingstock in terms of its medical team and when it comes to developing pitching, so Bradish’s performance oscillating pretty wildly within the first two months of a seasons shouldn’t come as a surprise.

During that 10-4 run the Orioles rotation had a 2,75 ERA, tops in the AL and a top 10 WHIP. They also had a 4.08 FIP, pointing to a rare stretch when the defense – beyond brutal all around – actually helped them out. On the season the Orioles are 20th in starter’s ERA, and 20th in WHIP and innings pitched; outside of that 14-game span, this team has a rotation ERA over 5.00.

On Thursday, Tyler Wells provided three innings of sterling relief to bridge the gap to the high-leverage guys, who secured the win. That will be a trick template to try to replicate with any regularity.

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