Orioles begin another important series with 4-3 win in D.C. (updated)

WASHINGTON – The televisions inside the visiting clubhouse today were tuned to Game 1 of a doubleheader between the Blue Jays and Rays. It wasn’t just background noise. Players didn’t walk past and glance at the screen.

They sat in chairs and on sofas and tracked every pitch as the Jays tried to rally in the ninth inning. Two teams ahead of them in the wild card race. The indoor version of scoreboard watching.

What does manager Brandon Hyde root for in this instance?

“A ton of bullpen usage,” he said.

“I think you hope that they kind of beat each other or split or whatever. But we’ve got to take care of what we do. None of that’s going to matter if we’re losing series.”

The Orioles fell behind tonight but kept alive the opportunity for a sweep. A split won’t cut it. To do worse would be a bludgeoning.

Ryan Mountcastle led off the fifth with a game-tying home run against friend and former roommate Hunter Harvey, Austin Hays gave the Orioles the lead with a RBI double later in the inning, and Félix Bautista made a successful return in a 4-3 victory over the Nationals before an announced crowd of 31,679.

Dillon Tate tossed 1 1/3 scoreless innings after replacing starter Dean Kremer with no outs in the sixth, Cionel Pérez retired all five batters faced, Bautista notched his 13^th save in his first appearance in a week, and the Orioles improved to 74-67 overall with their third win in the last nine games.

Bautista hadn’t pitched since his six-out save last Tuesday due to arm fatigue. A leadoff walk tonight didn't damage him.

Hays had his first back-to-back multi-hit games since July 13-15 when his fly ball fell in front of diving right fielder Joey Meneses to score Gunnar Henderson, who doubled after Mountcastle’s 22^nd home run. Henderson moved to third base on Ramón Urías’ infield single, and Harvey was removed after Hays broke the tie.

“Great swing early in the game getting a hit, and then finally got one to fall in a big spot," Hyde said of Hays. "He’s been grinding, working his tail off, and happy to see him get some results tonight.”

"It's always nice to get a bloop hit with runners in scoring position," Hays said. "Just trying to stay through the middle of the field, get something to hit hard right there, and found a hole. I was glad to see it hit some grass."

Harvey, the Orioles’ first-round pick in the 2013 draft, hadn’t surrendered a home run in his first 29 appearances. Mountcastle drove a 99.2 mph fastball over the right-center field wall for his fourth homer this month, matching last month’s total.

“For me that was the best at-bats he’s taken in months," Hyde said. "The walks, the ability to lay off some breaking balls down, tough pitches, go deep in the count, and turn around 100 to right-center. He just has so much power that way. When he’s really geared in to stay on the ball, get another hit over there. He’s got so much ability and he showed you tonight what he’s capable of.”

Left fielder Alex Call raced toward the line and made a diving catch to rob Cedric Mullins and prevent the Orioles from building on their lead.  

Mountcastle and Harvey had dinner last night and joked about what might happen if they squared off.

“We were just talking smack to each other,” Mountcastle said. “I was like, ‘I’m going to take you deep,’ and he was like, ‘No, I’m going to hit you right in the back, man.’ I was like, ‘You better not hit me in the back. You throw way too hard.’ I got him, man, and it’s probably one of my favorite home runs I ever hit.

“I think when I hit it, I looked at him out of the corner of my eye, and he had a little smile on his face, even after he gave it up. It was a cool moment.”

"I started laughing," Harvey said. "That’s the first time I ever laughed giving up a home run. It was hard to hide that emotion, just because we’re so close. We’ve talked so much trash, so when that happened, he looked at me and he was laughing. I knew my phone was going to get blown up. I knew he was going to wear me out. This is the worst-case scenario right now. And I’ve also been telling him I was going to hit him. I probably should’ve just done that.”

Kremer went five-plus innings and allowed three runs and eight hits on 82 pitches. He stranded two runners in the fifth to preserve a 4-3 lead, allowed a leadoff double to CJ Abrams in the sixth and came out.

Tate took over, Abrams broke for third on Israel Pineda’s ground ball to short, and Jorge Mateo threw him out.

“I thought Dean did a good job," Hyde said. "He left a few balls kind of out over the plate that got hit, but I thought he was really competitive. His fastball was up to 97. Went into the sixth inning in a tight game. I thought he did a really nice job.”

The Nationals scored twice in the third to take a 3-1 lead. Luke Voit had an RBI single and Luis García produced a fielder’s choice grounder that followed Ildemaro Vargas’ leadoff single and Lane Thomas’ double that extended his hitting streak to a career-high 10 games.

Harvey inherited runners on the corners and no outs in the fourth and needed one pitch to get a double play grounder from Mullins that scored Hays. But the fifth inning backfired on him.

“I was fired up too much. Couldn’t calm down enough," he said.

"The dude was in my wedding. I talk to him about every night. So when he got in the box, I was like, ‘Oh, here we go.’ I just couldn’t calm down. I couldn’t get it out of the middle of the plate, and he don’t miss that. I’ll never live that down. I’ll be hearing about that until we face again. I’m looking forward to it.”

Harvey said he received about "100 messages." Including one from Mountcastle?

"Yeah, he's in there."

“We’ve been back and forth since we met," Harvey said. "I think I got him out in minor league camp one time. He hit a single that went through the legs of the outfielder and he got a triple. He’s been talking crap about that since. That was 2015. And we’ve been together on the same team for the last four-five years. We always talked about what if we got to face off? And we did. He might’ve won tonight, but it’ll be the last time.”

"I was shocked," Mountcastle said. "Great pitcher, and I'll definitely hold it over him for a while."

"I'm just really happy to see him finally get a ball go out that he hits so hard," Hays said. "They just keep getting caught, bad luck hitting them to deep parts of the field. He's putting really good swings on balls and having great at-bats, so he just continues to do that and balls will fall."

One fell tonight on the other side of the fence to provide a run and some comic relief.

"He was throwing hard, man. I think he hit 101 tonight," Hays said. "I know him and Mounty are really good friends, so it was a battle we were all on the top step looking forward to seeing, just power against power, and Mounty came out on top on that one."

The Orioles worked Cory Abbott for 26 pitches in the first inning and led 1-0 on Henderson’s two-out groundball single into center field. Adley Rutschman singled and advanced on a passed ball and Anthony Santander’s fly ball to the center field warning track, and Mountcastle kept the inning alive with a walk.

García’s bloop double with two outs in the bottom of the first scored Meneses from first base to tie the game. Kyle Stowers attempted a sliding catch near the line, and the ball rolled past him.

The Orioles loaded the bases in the second inning and didn’t score.

Stowers tried to redeem himself with a leadoff double, his helmet flying off his head as he approached first base. He raced to third on Hays’ fly ball to deep right-center, Mullins was hit on the right hand with two outs and stole his career-high 31^st base, and Rutschman drew his 52^nd walk in 93 games.

Santander was called out on strikes on a slider that was below the zone.

Rutschman collected his 30^th double with two outs in the fourth and was stranded.

The Orioles went 3-for-15 with runners in scoring position and stranded 11.

“We had a lot of opportunities to score a few more and we just didn’t, but fortunately we got enough," Hyde said. "It was a huge hit for us. Mounty’s homer was enormous off Harv, and then our bullpen was fantastic. Cionel Pérez getting five outs on minimal pitches. Great stuff from our pitching tonight.”

Urías was nailed on the left leg by a Steve Cishek slider leading off the seventh inning. The Orioles have been hit 77 times to lead the American League.

The Nationals needed six relievers tonight. Heavy bullpen usage.

Just the way Hyde prefers it.  

The Rays and Jays split that doubleheader, leaving the Orioles five games behind for the last wild card.

“Every night right now is important, and really happy with how our guys rallied today," Hyde said. "We had really good at-bats except a couple times when we had runners in scoring position. But besides that I thought our at-bats were good. They have some really good bullpen arms, some big bullpen arms. Pretty impressive. But we had solid at-bats, we gave up three runs and then our bullpen just absolutely lights out.”

"Like I've said before and many times before that, every win means something," Kremer said. "No matter who against and what time of year, a win's a win.

"We're trying to go out there and win every night regardless of what time of year it is, but we've got 21 games left ... if we can close the gap, especially against Toronto this next series, and take another one from the Nats here tomorrow, it will put us in a good spot."

Down on the farm, Colton Cowser hit his second home run with Triple-A Norfolk. Richie Martin also hit his second and had three RBIs. Yusniel Diaz went 3-for-5 with two RBIs, Tyler Nevin had two hits and two RBIs, and Cadyn Grenier delivered a three-run triple in the eighth inning.

Spenser Watkins held Charlotte to one run and two hits in five innings. Alexander Wells allowed three runs and five hits in 2 2/3 innings.

High Single-A Aberdeen lost to Brooklyn 8-1 in the opener of a best-of-three semifinal series in the South Atlantic League. Billy Cook drove in the only run. Heston Kjerstad had two hits and Dylan Beavers tripled.