Orioles this, that and the other from today's exhibition tie

The Orioles and Red Sox played to a 6-6 tie today at Ed Smith Stadium, which leads into Tuesday’s first off-day.

Here are some nuggets from this afternoon, when the first five innings meant the most to the Orioles:

* Félix Bautista faced three batters in the fifth inning – strikeout, strikeout, ground ball, standing ovation from fans.

This was Bautista’s moment. Everything else that happened was secondary.

Bautista ran the count full to Trayce Thompson and struck him out on a fastball up and away. Nate Eaton swung through a nasty splitter.

The stadium radar gun had Bautista top out at 97 mph. His velocity ticked up.

"That's the highlight of the camp so far," manager Brandon Hyde told the assembled media.

Fans cheered Bautista again as he walked back to the dugout and during his stroll to the bullpen area. Teammates hugged him one by one. The emotions were apparent as he sat on the bench. Sweat and some tears.

“It’s something I thought about every day, and it’s something that kept me going throughout my rehab process,” Bautista, via interpreter Brandon Quinones, told the media.

“I missed my fans. I missed hearing them every time I stepped onto the field.”

* Charlie Morton was the latest Orioles starter to impress, retiring six of seven batters and not allowing a ball out of the infield. Romy González singled on a grounder through the right side with two outs in the second.

Morton produced a five-pitch first inning. The first two resulted in a foul popup to catcher Adley Rutschman and ground ball to first baseman Ryan Mountcastle.

As he did after his first start, Morton headed to the bullpen to do more throwing, increase his pitch count and get the extra up.

Morton’s fastball was 94-95 mph.

Asked on MASN about working with Rutschman, Morton said, “He’s great. Just a really good dude.”

* Tomoyuki Sugano made his second spring appearance, the first time in relief, and tossed two scoreless innings with two hits, a walk and two strikeouts. Vimael Machín made a lunging stop and throw to rob González and get the out at first base.

Sugano got a pair of called third strikes to end the third after a one-out walk, single and stolen base created a jam. It appeared that Sugano got his strikeouts on the splitter and fastball.

It also appeared that he wasn't happy with his command, but these are small sample sizes. Maybe he gets in a groove after his second inning of work. Who knows?

* Rutschman keeps earning praise for hitting to the opposite field, but he hammered a ball up and over the plate for a home run in the first inning, his first of the spring. Also his first RBI.

The Orioles led 2-0 in the second on Luis Vázquez’s sacrifice fly after Heston Kjerstad singled into left field, Ramón Urías reached on a throwing error and Machín walked.

Machín came through again at the plate with a single that scored Heston Kjerstad, who walked in the fourth and stole second base. Kjerstad has one steal in 52 major league games.

Ryan Mountcastle led off the inning with an opposite-field single, moved up on Kjerstad’s walk, tagged and raced to third base on a fly ball and scored on catcher Connor Wong’s throwing error.

Daz Cameron had a sacrifice fly in the seventh after Emmanuel Rivera singled and Terrin Vavra doubled. The Orioles did a nice job of manufacturing runs.

Matt Bowman retired the side in order and struck out two batters in the sixth. Roansy Contreras retired the first seven batters he faced this spring, but he surrendered a pair of two-run homers in the seventh inning today.

The Red Sox tied the game 6-6 in the eighth with Nick Sogard’s two-run shot off Yaqui Rivera.

* Executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias joined the MASN telecast in the second inning. I asked whether the trade talk is quieting as we get further into spring training.

“Kind of past the point where people are actively having trade talks,” he replied, adding that they could gain some momentum later.

“We’ve been in a little bit of a lull the past couple weeks in that regard.”

Elias also talked about the depth on the roster and how there’s “probably least amount of competition we’ve had in camp.”

* Kyle Bradish and Tyler Wells, recovering from their respective elbow surgeries, threw on the field earlier today. The Orioles are hoping for second-half returns.

* Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr., part of the ownership group, attended today’s game.

* The Red Sox coaching staff included former Orioles José Flores (first base), Chris Holt (bullpen) and Kyle Hudson (third base).

Hudson scored the tying run in the 10^th inning of the Sept. 28, 2011 game against the Red Sox that became known as the “Curse of the Andino.” Hudson pinch-ran for Chris Davis and scored on Nolan Reimold’s single, and Robert Andino followed with the walk-off single.