In MVO year, Mancini kept thriving even if his team did not

Trey Mancini said it has not been too challenging to play well while his team continued to lose a lot. The losing was pretty much expected for the Orioles, but Mancini needed to prove in 2019 that he could play more like he did in 2017, when he finished third in the American League Rookie of the Year voting.

So after he was named the 2019 Most Valuable Oriole on Friday, Mancini said it was not much of an issue for him to put together a strong individual season for the team with the second-worst record in the American League.

"It hasn't been too bad," he said. "Last year was a really tough year for us as a team and me personally, especially with high expectations coming into the year. You know this year is a little different in a rebuild and everyone knows that.

"So you look for little things every day to see as positives and look for things that will help our team going forward. We've seen a ton of that this year. You see a lot of guys make a name for themselves this year and show they belong here a long time. So things like that make it fun to come here every day."

Mancini's MVO honor was very popular with his manager, Brandon Hyde.

"An All-Star type year and he's a great player and one of the better years for me in the American League. Class guy, everything you want. So well-deserved," Hyde said.

Mancini is a leader on the Orioles and Hyde said not only should that continue but should expand moving forward.

"I think you're going to see Trey start to take on even more of a leadership role," Hyde said. "I think really the second half, I've seen that a little bit. He's not the vocal guy. He's really, really conscious of staying in his own lane. I think he's very, very professional in that he doesn't want to speak out of turn, but now for me he can. Now it's time. Now it's time to not just let his actions show everybody what kind of player he is, but also he can lead guys, too, in different ways.

"He's really smart, he's engaging, he's fun to be around. Guys really respect him. Has a great attitude. So as he gets more comfortable being in the big leagues and putting up years like he's putting up, it's going to be more natural for him to be able to pull guys aside and teach along the way, as well."

The manager is very fond of the player, and it goes the other way, too.

"He's awesome. I love playing for Hyder," Mancini said. "He's got our backs all the time. He expects a lot of us and I think gets the best out of a lot of us. He's allowed guys to be themselves. He said from the beginning to play hard every night and run every ball out, play the game the right way and by and large we've done that. We've made too many mistakes, but the will to win is there."

In the win column: The Orioles 5-3 win over Seattle last night ended a four-game losing streak and Seattle's five-game win streak. The clubs have split four games in 2019.

After the O's bullpen allowed 20 runs (18 earned) in 11 2/3 innings in the Toronto series, the 'pen allowed one run in seven innings last night. And that was the one run allowed over seven from right-hander Aaron Brooks, who came into the game in the third inning. Richard Bleier made his first start after 159 career relief appearances and gave up two runs in two innings.

Brooks' seven innings worked was a season-high and his most since he went seven on Oct. 2, 2015 for Oakland at Seattle. He threw 83 pitches, 53 for strikes.

Anthony Santander's three-run homer in the first inning Friday night was his 20th of the year. Four O's have hit 20 or more with Mancini at 34, Renato Núñez with 29, Jonathan Villar with 23 and Santander with 20.

Mancini extended his hitting streak to eight games, batting .457 (16-for-35) over that span. In September, he is batting .365 (27-for-74).