Henderson and Mullins homer to support Eflin's latest winning start for Orioles (updated)

Zach Eflin made one mistake pitch, and it wasn’t egregious. Gunnar Henderson corrected it with one swing.

Henderson lined a two-run homer onto the flag court in right field in the fourth inning to give the Orioles a lead, Cedric Mullins padded it in the fifth, and Eflin registered another quality start with his new team in a 5-1 victory over the Red Sox before an announced crowd of 25,445 at Camden Yards.

The Orioles are 72-50 overall, 6-1 against the Red Sox and 20-35 when the opponent scores first. They moved into a first-place tie with the idle Yankees.

Eflin was removed after 87 pitches and only one run allowed in six innings with a season-high eight strikeouts. He’s made four starts since the Orioles traded for him and all are quality by definition, with six total runs allowed in 25 1/3 innings. The four wins in his first four Orioles starts without a relief appearance are a club record, breaking a tie with Kyle Gibson in 2023.

The 12 starts without a walk this season are most in the majors.

He's been exactly what the Orioles anticipated and badly needed.

"Really good stuff again," said manager Brandon Hyde. "He’s got such good command and confidence in all his pitches and he keeps the ball down. He gets ground balls. He just does a great job of mixing. Same thing he did against us last year.

“He’s just such a pro and he’s pitched in World Series games, and so he’s been in high-pressure situations before. He’s got a real easy way about him and he’s really likeable. Doesn’t seem like there’s a ton of stress out there. He’s very, very comfortable on the mound and he’s comfortable pitching. He just really knows what he’s doing.”

Eflin tore through the Red Sox’s lineup with nine of the first 10 batters retired and five strikeouts. But Wilyer Abreu led off the top of the fourth with a 412-foot home run to right field on a curveball. Abreu swung beneath the zone to launch it onto Eutaw Street, the 131^st in the ballpark’s history.

"He smoked it, honestly," Eflin said. "He put a really good swing on it. It was kind of like a backdoor curveball, it might have even been below the zone. He’s a really good low-ball hitter, so it was impressive for him to get that ball out of the yard. Yeah, I was kind of surprised. He put a really good swing on it."

Abreu singled in the first inning. He was the only Red Sox batter to reach against Eflin until Masataka Yoshida singled to begin the fifth.

"He can backdoor cutters, he’s got a good changeup, he can flip in a breaking ball when he wants, and the two-seamers, he’s got really good movement," Hyde said. "It’s down in the strike zone. So it’s super unpredictable for the at-bat, and you’ve got to be able to cover both sides of the plate. He pitches to both sides of the plate extremely well and he’s unbelievably prepared with a great game plan going in. When he executes it’s tough to hit.”

Eflin obviously wanted to make a good first impression in Baltimore. He's taking it to the next level.

"Yeah, but at the end of the day I’m just trying to go out and be competitive and post a quality start and stay in the game as long as possible," he said.

"It’s not necessarily something I’m thinking about. I’m trying to go out and do my job every fifth day, stay in the game as long as I can, give the bullpen a rest, just do my job. Those are things I’m focused on. I’m not necessarily focused on getting approval of everybody. Just go out, play hard, be competitive and see where it takes me.

"I’ve told you guys, baseball never stops, so you’ve got to come in ready to go. I haven’t really changed that mentality, but like I’ve told you guys, everybody’s been so welcoming and so great, and it’s a really fun team to be a part of, so that’s definitely helped a lot."

Anthony Santander led off the bottom of the fourth with a walk and Henderson swung at Nick Pivetta’s first pitch, a curveball that cleared the out-of-town scoreboard with a 20-degree launch angle, one of the lowest of his career. It left in a hurry at 110.8 mph.

Henderson has 31 homers and two in the past two nights.

Mullins ripped a slider to right in the fifth and the ball bounced back onto the field, delaying the home run call. Mullins had his 13^th and it tied for the lowest of his career with a 19-degree angle. The Orioles were living on long line drives.  

“Swung the bat really confidently tonight," Hyde said of Mullins. "When Ced’s feeling good and swinging the bat aggressively and taking his walks … He got hit tonight, stole a base. He’s always a power threat. He just changes the game for us cause it’s premier, premier defense in center field to go with it. He’s playing with some confidence right now and it’s fun to watch.”

Said Mullins: "It’s been awesome to make those adjustments and see them incorporate themselves out on the field, staying on that path, staying to the grind, so I can be productive for the team.”  

Bailey Horn replaced Pivetta in the sixth and the Orioles led 4-1 after Santander’s leadoff double and Ryan Mountcastle’s 108-mph single into center field with one out. Mountcastle batted for Ryan O’Hearn, and Orioles pinch-hitters improved to 32-for-88 (.364) this season.

A potential save situation for the bullpen dissolved when James McCann singled with two outs in the seventh and came all the way around on Colton Cowser’s double to the center field fence. The helmet flew off but the mask stayed.

The Orioles threatened a few times against Pivetta in the early innings. Cowser led off the first with a single and Santander grounded into a double play. Mullins was hit by a pitch leading off the third, stole second base and was stranded.

Mullins is the ninth player in club history with three 20-steal seasons. He swiped 19 bags in 2023, when he twice went on the injured list.

Also on the list are Alan Wiggins, Corey Patterson and Paul Blair with three, Luis Aparicio and Don Baylor with four, Al Bumbry with five, and Brady Anderson and Brian Roberts with seven, per STATS.

Eflin escaped a two-on, one-out jam in the fifth. He struck out David Hamilton to give him seven and tie his season high – once with the Rays and three with the Orioles. No. 8 came against Rafael Devers after Rob Refsnyder singled in the sixth.

“Super impressed," Mullins said. "He’s always been a competitor out there, even when he was with Tampa. He’s given us trouble in the past. It’s awesome to have him with us, doing his thing.”

Gregory Soto put two runners on base with one out in the seventh and pinch-hitter Romy Gonzalez grounded into a double play against Burch Smith.

There was more in Eflin's tank but Hyde didn't want to drain it.

“We talked about it after that inning." Hyde said. "I just don’t want to push him right now, just where we are with our pitching, a little bit of fatigue there. I didn’t want to grind him out for 12 more pitches and bring somebody in with traffic. And there ended up being traffic there anyway, unfortunately. We all talked about it after that inning. Love to have him go back out but we just felt like it wasn’t worth the risk.”

Santander fouled a ball off his right leg on the 12^th pitch of his at-bat in the seventh but stayed in the game after head athletic trainer Brian Ebel checked on him. Santander flied out on the next pitch.

* The Red Sox list Friday night’s starter as TBD. They’re expected to reinstate right-hander Cooper Criswell from the COVID injured list, and he could start or follow an opener.

* The Orioles agreed to terms today with right-hander Matt Bowman on a minor league deal.

Bowman, 33, was born in Chevy Chase and drafted by the Mets in the 13^th round in 2012 out of Princeton University. He’s pitched for the Twins, Diamondbacks and Mariners this season and has allowed nine runs in 15 innings with seven walks and 10 strikeouts. The Twins released him three days ago.

Bowman also has pitched for Cardinals, Reds and Yankees during his six seasons and registered a 4.22 ERA and 1.273 WHIP in 196 games.

MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reported that Bowman has an upward mobility clause on Aug. 22 and an opt-out clause on Aug. 28, and he can earn $1 million if he’s in the majors.

Bowman made his debut tonight with Triple-A Norfolk and tossed 1 1/3 scoreless innings with three strikeouts.

* Justin Armbruester started for Norfolk and allowed nine runs and 10 hits with three walks in 2 1/3 innings. He threw 82 pitches. His ERA is 7.94.

Nick Maton homered again, his 15th, and he pitched in a blowout loss for the second straight night, allowing one run and two hits in the eighth inning.

Carlos Tavera started for Double-A Bowie and tossed five scoreless innings with two hits, no walks and three strikeouts. Samuel Basallo returned to the lineup following last night’s exit in the first inning after being hit on the left forearm.