O's Mullins on big night of offense and taking care of business so far this series

It sounds a little strange to say this about an Orioles team that won just 52 games last year, but they have avoided any letdown this weekend against an Oakland team with the worst record in the American League at 49-85.

The Orioles beat the Athletics 5-2 Friday and 8-1 last night behind five home runs. 

This series followed the strong road trip where Baltimore went 4-2 at Houston and Cleveland against two first-place teams, and precedes a huge series against Toronto that starts tomorrow afternoon. It was positioned where if the O's had taken their foot off the gas pedal, we may have seen different results. 

O’s center fielder Cedric Mullins said his team has taken care of business so far this weekend.

“At the end of the day they are still a major league team to be taken seriously,” said Mullins, who hit his 13^th homer last night. “No matter what their record shows or how they are playing recently. If I’m not mistaken, they gave the Yankees a hard time not too long ago (they did, splitting a four-game series). That shows that. So, to come out and take the series and have a chance to get a sweep, that just shows where our mentality is to come out and play so hard every game.”

The O’s offense broke out with a five-homer game on Saturday night. The eight-run output was the most since the O’s beat Boston 15-10 on Aug. 19. The Orioles have scored 13 runs in the series on 20 hits with six doubles and five homers.

“To have an explosive night, that was fun and it was big for the team,” added Mullins.

Mullins is trying to do his part for the O’s offense. In August, he hit safely in 20 of 24 games while hitting .296/.358/.469 (29-for-98) with six doubles, one triple, three home runs, 14 runs scored, six RBIs, nine walks and seven stolen bases. He quietly had a solid month, which included an 11-game hitting streak from Aug. 16-28, the second-longest of his career.

Mullins, who is tied for the AL stolen bases lead with teammate Jorge Mateo, each with 29, is the third Oriole since 2000 with back-to-back 25+ SB seasons. And he is one of four MLB players this season with at least 40 XBH (43) and 25 SB (29); last year, he was one of nine players to finish with at least 40 XBH (72) and 25 SB (30).

“Coming off a strong August, with September here, it’s always good to finish on a strong note. Me being at the top of the lineup, I want to be a catalyst any way I can. (On Saturday) Mounty (Ryan Mountcastle) was the guy to swing it the best and I was able to be on base for one of the bombs. That was huge, put us up early and our momentum just continued,” he said.

Mullins added that the young guys and rookies like Gunnar Henderson, Kyle Stowers and Adley Rutschman, who were all in the lineup last night, are bringing not just talent, but some energy to the team and clubhouse as well.

“Yeah. Always exciting to see those guys have success early,” he said. “It shows they definitely have the talent to be up here but also that they are not pressing or anything to try and prove themselves. They know their game and they are just going out and doing it.”

And showing a lot of poise along the way, too.

“I’d like to be able to give credit to certain people for that, but they are professionals and it’s something that they have become accustomed to. And I think our guys have prepared them well for their chance and did a good job with them on the farm,” Mullins said.