Youngsters Beavers And Mayo Power The Orioles To Vital Win In Toronto

The most logical and rational thing for the Orioles beleaguered front office to do entering a desperate series in Toronto, with injuries mounting and some of their most important hitters struggling, was to put Dylan Beavers in the leadoff spot and Coby Mayo no lower than fourth.

And they actually did it. And it worked.

Beavers led off the game with a homer off struggling and aged Max Scherzer, and delivered a line-drive hit to cap a five-run third inning and get an erratic offense and tepid lineup off to a rare hot start and Mayo homered late in a 7-4 victory Friday at Rogers Centre. The win pulled the Orioles (72-76) within a game of the Blue Jays, but the Jays are not currently a Wild Card team, and it will take a true extended winning streak (Baltimore has one all season) to dig out of this hole.

With Blaze Alexander injured again, and Gunnar Henderson slumping, but back after fouling a ball of his leg, and Jackson Holliday now sporting at a .650 OPS for the season, Beavers should be the guy to get a run atop the order. He did it with aplomb in AAA last year and also in spots after his initial promotion, and he’s been in great form lately.

He entered with a .840 OPS in his last 20 games, took aim at the second pitch he saw Friday and sent it over the fence. He remains an outlier on this team, not trying to do too much at the plate nor routinely try to see how far he can hit a baseball. He isn’t afraid to see pitches and just get on base or work for a single when that’s what the assignment calls for.

“Our approach today was to just get in the zone and take good swings on pitches in the zone,” Beavers said on the MASN broadcast after the game. “And I feel like when we’re doing that, that’s when we’re playing our best ball. We just have to keep it up.”

In an organization in which a bevvy of first-round picks have fallen disgustingly short of expectations – to the point that an exec who had a big hand in their drafting and failed development was fired this week, Matt Blood (as Mike Elias tries to cling to power) – Beavers, never a top 50 prospect type, has a chance to actually contribute. If they just let him play.

Quick Start

Beavers wasn’t the only one delivering early Friday.

When the likes of Colton Cowser and Heston Kjerstad are driving in runs in their first at bats it’s a good sign that the starter is cooked. Christian Encarnacion-Strand and Samuel Basallo also drove in runs in the third, and good thing, because former Jay Chris Bassitt looked like he could implode, too, at any moment. Mayo added a homer (23)– off a righty continuing a recent trend – and he remains on fire since the All-Star break, reaching base in 15 straight.

“He felt good off right handers in the minor leagues,” Beavers said of Mayo. “He was crushing home runs off righties his entire life, so I don’t think he minds who is throwing. It’s fun to watch.”

Bassitt, 36, can be a tough watch and he walked three in the first three innings, but got out of a bases-loaded jam in the third before rookie Kazuma Okamoto led off the fourth with a homer; good thing he didn’t get to the plate in the third. Manager Craig Albernaz tried to cull six innings out of him, but that’s more than he has, and Josh Walker continued his dominant run, getting Bassitt out of a jam in the sixth.

Alex Hoppe, a deadline pick up in the Taylor Ward salary dump, has been getting shaky later after an improbable run in Baltimore and he couldn't put this game away, allowing a homer in the ninth and leaving with two on and the go-ahead run at the plate before Rico Garcia got a ground ball to end the game.

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