Orioles Finally Drop Gunnar Henderson In Lineup And He Carries Offense To Win At Tampa

For months, anyone who understood baseball and had seen Gunnar Henderson at his best and cared about Orioles baseball, was screaming for the overmatched skipper in their dugout to drop him in the lineup.

Henderson overworks himself and clearly needed the team to take a different approach with him, and his frustration was becoming his brand. Yet manager Criag Albernaz, a puppet for failed baseball czar Mike Elias, instead thrust him to the leadoff role even as his average dipped to .200 and his on-base dipped below .300 and his OPS skidded to .675. Finally, Friday, entering an absolutely-crucial series at Tampa and coming off a day off, old-school baseball common sense finally won out over algorithm worshipping and optics.

Henderson was dropped to the fifth spot in the line-up, unchartered territory for him since he became a star, and he responded with his best and most well-rounded offensive performance of the season, leading the Orioles to a vital, 6-5 win at Tropicana Field against the best team in the American League, with Yennier Cano nearly giving up in the 9th but the O's (59-63) just holding on.

“It was definitely weird not having to be ready for the first three batters,” Henderson, betting fifth for the first time since 2023, told the MASN broadcast after the game. “Alby put me in there and I’ll do anything to help the team win.”

Henderson, facing a litany of arms as Tampa went with a bullpen game, delivered four hits, using all fields and capping the performance off with a two-run homer with two outs in the 8th (his 20th of the season) to provide a 6-2 lead. Henderson also produced a double and two singles and scored two runs. The Orioles tried Pete Alonso in the leadoff spot – for the first time in his career (and he delivered two hits) – and got a go-ahead pinch-hit from rookie Dylan Beavers and way more from starter Chris Bassitt than anyone could have expected.

The reality of this lost season is that Henderson is almost certain to be not far behind his buddy Adley Rutschman out of Birdland, with two years left on his contract and his play in steep decline for over a year. This was his second four-hit game of the season, and if the Orioles are going to ever get back to .500 and truly stay in a Wild Card hunt, their best player is going to have to lead them there.

Bassitt Better Than Expected

There was reason for concern with a 36-year old starter, who has seemed at least four years older when wearing an Orioles uniform, rejoining a rotation that might be running out of gas. Bassitt was fairly awful before heading to the 60-day Injured List in early June, and this is a Rays team that is pesky and patient and works weak starters over.

And Bassitt looked the part of a typically-washed Elias free-agent signing through the first two innings. He managed to give up three its and a walk in the second inning and things looked like they might go off the rails right there. But Bassitt, getting good run from his sinker Friday, got Yandy Diaz, who does damage against the O’s, to pop up with the bases loaded and then run-producing demon Jonathan Aranda flew out to end the inning.

“Getting us to the sixth inning, couldn’t ask for anything more,” Albernaz said of Bassitt.

The only other damage against Bassitt came in the third when the Rays tied the game at 2 on Victor Mesa Jr.’s single, but this was better than anyone could have hoped for. Bassitt went 5 1/3, struggled with his command (three walks) and didn’t miss a ton of bats (five hits) but got a vital out pretty much whenever he needed it and the bullpen was great until the 9th (Cam Sanders threw one pitch in relief of Cano and got the save on a game-ending flyout).

"We like Cam coming in there and Cam did a great job," Albernaz said.

The Rays, who had won nine straight, were piecing this game together on the mound with as many arms as it would take – the team that pioneered the opener and designed bullpen games gave struggling arm Steven Matz the first inning, and he did the job, but the normally dormant early Orioles attack jumped Jesse Scholtens in the second.

Christian Encarnacion-Strand drove in a run with a sac fly, Colton Cowser, whose power comes in bunches, delivered his 10th homer of the season in the third inning and after former Oriole Cedric Mullins negated a dangerous sixth inning with a ridiculous catch near the centerfield wall, Baltimore broke through in the seventh.

Henderson doubled to open this inning (he made another base running mistake when he reached third, a constant for him and this team). The bases ended up loaded with one out after Jeremiah Jackson (who also made a ridiculous out on the base paths in this sequence) was intentionally walked and Beavers delivered a two-run pinch-hit single to right off former Oriole Garrett Cleavinger (former Oriole Tyler Wells also pitched in this game as the Rays used seven arms).

"I feel like I've been seeing the ball, and it was just a matter of a tweak here or there," Henderson said.

“He’s doing a great job of managing at bats,” Albernaz said of Henderson.

Henderson’s homer just over the rightfield fence provided some badly needed insurance for Baltimore’s pen, and the Orioles got a rare win over a franchise that has given Elias fits since he launched his never-ending rebuild in 2019. Three games remain on this 10-game trip before the Yankees and Rays come to Baltimore with the schedule relentless down the stretch.

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