Cole Sulser on ending the streak, Gunnar Henderson honored

As right-hander Cole Sulser took the mound in the ninth last night he was trying to focus on simply getting three outs to wrap up an Orioles win. And not about the weight of a 14-game losing streak adding any pressure to the situation.

But it had to be hard to block that fact out. Was Sulser feeling the pressure to end the streak as he faced the Twins?

"Not too much. You are definitely caught up in the moment," he said in a Zoom interview this afternoon. "You're more amped up just for the game itself, the fact that it's a close game. The end of the ballgame, the ninth inning. But I tried not to think too much about what had happened previous to that. Sometimes when you get too wrapped up into that, either thinking past or future, it's just going to take away from the moment you are in. So, I tried to stay very focused on that and I'm sure everyone on the team was kind of doing the same thing."

Pitching in the ninth does have its challenges. Sulser was protecting a 7-4 lead last night but allowed a walk and one-out double to put runners on second and third. Facing the tie run in the box, he then fanned Alex Kirilloff with a 95 mph fastball and Jorge Polanco flied to center and the O's win was finally secured.

"It can be a little different at times (in the ninth)," said Sulser. "More it's just the hitters tend to be, I definitely think, very locked in. They know it's their last at-bat of the game. So, everyone, from a pitching standpoint and offensive standpoint, is really locked in pitch-to-pitch. So you can't take anything off. I would say that is the only real difference, maybe, the amount of focus. We try to be locked in every pitch, but it's going to feel a little bit different when you know you have a couple more plate appearances coming up or the game could go a few more innings versus when you know this is your last chance to either win or lose a ballgame.

"It was awesome to go out there and get a win for the team. I think for all of us in the locker room it was just kind of a sigh of relief. Kind of that monkey off our back. We've been feeling like we were playing good baseball in some close games, so to end up on the right side of this one, best way I can describe it is a sigh of relief and just some relaxation, for sure."

Trey Mancini, who drove in two runs in the streak-ender, said the clubhouse was loud after the Orioles beat the Twins.

"As he mentioned, the music was going, everyone was having a good time," added Sulser. "You could feel that weight lift off our shoulder a little bit - at least that is what it felt like personally. You know, everyone had been obviously feeling like we had a tough stretch there, so to have one go our way and come out with a win and play good start to finish, it was awesome. Just kind of a weight off our shoulders. You play your best baseball when you are relaxed, so that's a huge help for us moving forward."

Sulser is having a good year. Over 20 2/3 innings he is 1-0 with a 1.74 ERA, walking eight with 32 strikeouts. His WHIP is down from 1.500 last season to 1.016 and his K rate jumped up from 7.5 to 13.9, which leads the Orioles.

And his sparkling 2020 numbers facing lefty batters are now even better. Last year lefties hit .143 with a .464 OPS off him, and this year those numbers are .063/.282 as left-handed batters are just 2-for-32 against him.

"I'd say the biggest thing is just trying to attack the zone more with multiple pitches," Sulser said. "When you get too nit-picky, I think it makes it easier on the hitters. They can start taking pitches off and making easy decisions. And I think, just trying to force them to make a decision, whether they are going to swing, put the ball in play, because I'm trying to attack the zone has really increased my effectiveness and some of my strikeout rate as well."

Henderson honored: Low Single-A Delmarva infielder Gunnar Henderson has been named Low-A East Player of the Month for May.

In 20 May games, Henderson, 19, slashed .313/.391/.613 with a league-leading 30 RBIs. He tallied three five-RBI games in the month. Henderson started June with a four-RBI game last night in another Shorebirds win, and his 34 RBIs for the season lead all of minor league baseball.

The Orioles' 2019 second-round pick (No. 42nd overall) finished the month of May ranking second in the league in home runs, runs and total bases while finishing third in slugging percentage.

Henderson ranks as the No. 93 prospect in the top 100, per Baseball America, and No. 99, per MLBPipeline.com.