Ortiz drives in three in debut and Orioles win 7-4 (updated)

DETROIT – Joey Ortiz watched a four-seam fastball go past him for a strike in his first major league at-bat, swung at a cutter and experienced his first moment of frustration and disbelief.

The Show can deliver low blows.

Tigers outfielder Akil Baddoo sprinted into left-center and made a spectacular diving catch, crashing to the ground and shattering Ortiz’s hopes of a quick hit.

Ortiz made a right turn toward the visiting dugout, grabbed his glove and shifted his focus to playing second base. There would be other swings for the kid – on pitches thrown to him and in moods.

At the plate again with two runners in scoring position and two outs in the fifth, Ortiz sent a bouncer over first baseman Spencer Torkelson’s head for his first hit and RBIs.

The Show also can cut you a break.

Kyle Gibson lasted only 4 1/3 innings in his shortest start with the Orioles, but they scored five times in the seventh, capped by Anthony Santander’s two-run homer off Chase Shreve, in a 7-4 comeback victory over the Tigers at Comerica Park.

Ortiz had a sacrifice fly against Shreve for his third RBI, Cedric Mullins tied the game with a triple, and he scored on Adley Rutschman’s fly ball. Ryan Mountcastle walked with two outs, and Santander launched a fastball 414 feet with a 107.2 mph exit velocity.

Santander struck out in his first three at-bats. He took his time rounding the bases on his second home run of the season.

"He was having a tough night and hearing it from above our dugout," said manager Brandon Hyde. "I think he let a lot of frustration go on that swing. That was a bomb. And it ended up being an enormous hit for us."

The Orioles are 17-8 after winning for the ninth time in 10 games, 11^th in 13 and 13^th in 16. They've gone 9-0 in series openers.

Félix Bautista recorded his sixth save after walking the bases loaded with one out. He struck out three batters and the Tigers left 15 runners on base.

The decisive inning began with Adam Frazier’s infield hit and Ryan McKenna’s double down the left field line to put two runners in scoring position for Ortiz.

Ortiz, the No. 87 prospect in Baseball America’s rankings, concluded a seven-pitch at-bat with a fly ball that scored Frazier. He also fielded Jonathan Schoop’s ground ball in the second inning with the bases loaded and no outs and started a double play.

A dandy debut that would have been epic without Baddoo’s thievery.

"I just figured, welcome to The Show," Ortiz said, smiling. "The game will always pay you back."

Ortiz joined Don Baylor as the only Orioles to record at least three RBIs in their debuts. Baylor did it on Sept. 18, 1970 against Cleveland, but his last RBI was a walk-off single in the 11^th inning. Ortiz is the first to do it in regulation.

"Well, that's pretty good company," Hyde said.

"I honestly didn't know what I was expecting for this game," Ortiz said, "and it was truly a blessing to be able to go out there and play."

Leading off the ninth, Ortiz sent a roller in front of the plate and was thrown out by catcher Jake Rogers to finish 1-for-3. He’ll be in Friday night’s lineup against left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez.

"I'm sure it was fun for him," Hyde said, "and fun watching him."

The Orioles trailed 3-0 in the fifth when Jorge Mateo collected his second hit, Frazier walked, and they executed a double steal. McKenna struck out with the count full, and Ortiz fell behind 0-2, fouled off two pitches, got even at 2-2 and cleared Torkelson with a chopper.

"Down two strikes, kind of backsiding a ball the other way, a fortunate bounce," Hyde said. "Putting the ball in play with two strikes, and it's something we've been doing a pretty good job of as of late."

"For him to put that ball in play and do that, that was big," Gibson said. "And whether it's a veteran or a young guy, you just don't see that very often, especially when a guy's groovin' like that. That was a big spot."

Gibson threw 23 pitches in a scoreless first, allowing back-to-back singles to begin the inning and striking out two on changeups to end it.

The Tigers loaded the bases with no outs in the second on Eric Haase’s broken bat fly ball that fell in left-center field, a fielder’s choice grounder, with Haase beating Ramón Urías’ throw, and Baddoo’s walk. Ortiz tried to make the out call on Haase, and it worked for a split second.

The double play limited the damage, but Nick Maton walked with two outs in the third, Kerry Carpenter doubled, and they both scored on Haase’s single for a 3-0 lead.

Mike Baumann replaced Gibson in the fifth after singles by Torkelson and Carpenter, and two popups kept the deficit at one run. Baumann has allowed one run in 14 2/3 innings.

Gibson threw 102 pitches and surrendered three runs and a season-high eight hits.

"Everything was just kind of a struggle," he said. "Command was pretty spotty. ... I think I might have had command of my curveball and slider. That's probably about it. Changeup command was in and out, really couldn't land a cutter. It was kind of a battle."

"I didn't think we helped him out early, I didn't think we played a very good brand of baseball there the first three or four innings, unfortunately, and kind of led to long innings," Hyde said. "I thought he did a good job of minimizing damage. Was trying to get through that fifth inning, couldn't quite, but he definitely competed. He just didn't have his best stuff, but didn't seem like anybody did, honestly. It was kind of a cold night. Our command wasn't like normal."

Cionel Pérez loaded the bases with one out in the sixth on a hit batter and two walks. Bryan Baker retired Torkelson on a shallow fly ball and walked Maton for a 4-2 lead. Former Oriole Tyler Nevin was called out on strikes.

Pérez has a 5.40 ERA and 2.60 WHIP in 10 innings.

"I just think he's searching a little bit right now," Hyde said. "I'm trying to find spots for him to try to find it, but we're playing such close games every single night, and we were really limited in the 'pen. ... We need C. We need to get that confidence going."

Baker stranded a runner in the seventh after a leadoff walk. He hasn’t surrendered a run in his last 12 appearances and his ERA is down to 1.98.

Keegan Akin struck out two batters in a scoreless eighth.

Tigers left-hander Joey Wentz retired 13 of the first 14 batters. Mateo had two singles and two steals after five innings.

Rutschman led off the sixth with a single and Carpenter made a leaping catch at the right field fence to rob Mountcastle of a home run, but he left with an apparent shoulder injury.

Wentz left after striking out Santander for the third time.

The Orioles left the ballpark with another win, their ninth when rallying from a deficit.

"I don't think there's ever a game that we feel like we're out of," Gibson said.

"We have a lot of fight," Hyde said. "Our guys are definitely battling, come from behind wins. It's OK to have a big win once in a while, also."

* Dillon Tate threw one inning tonight at Double-A Bowie on his injury rehab assignment and allowed two unearned runs and two hits with two strikeouts. Justin Armbruester allowed one run and two hits in five innings.

Coby Mayo had two hits and an RBI, but Bowie committed five errors in a 7-2 loss to Richmond.

Jackson Holliday’s first hit with High-A Aberdeen was a first-inning triple, and his second hit was a two-run homer in the second inning.

Single-A Delmarva 7-foot starter Jared Beck allowed two runs and two hits in four innings. Creed Willems hit his fifth home run and singled twice.