Watkins gets first major league win in Orioles' 7-5 victory (updated)

Retiring all three batters faced in his major league debut left Orioles right-hander Spenser Watkins ripe for a bunch of firsts tonight beyond how he was making his initial start.

Get the walk out of the way with a free pass to Blue Jays leadoff hitter Marcus Semien. Get ahead of Bo Bichette 0-2 and surrender the first hit, a groundball single into right field. Followed by the first run on Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s line drive to deep left that went into the box score as a sacrifice fly.

Manager Brandon Hyde appreciated the first bit of damage control. Watkins induced two ground balls and was back in the dugout.

It appears that Watkins has earned a second chance in the rotation following his first victory.

The 28-year-old rookie shut out the Blue Jays in four of his five innings and was rewarded with two-run homers by Pedro Severino, Cedric Mullins and Anthony Santander in the Orioles' 7-5 win before an announced crowd of 7,388 at Camden Yards.

Severino's shot off Steven Matz in the fourth inning gave Watkins his first lead. Watkins stranded Lourdes Gurriel Jr. after a leadoff single in the fifth and became the first Orioles starter to get through the inning in the last nine games.

Orioles starters have worked the fewest innings in the majors with 386 1/3 and failed to finish the sixth in 12 straight games. They've gone at least six innings only twice in the last 31.

No one was complaining about the five from Watkins, who registered the first win by an Orioles starter since rookie Bruce Zimmermann on June 8.

"First ever major league start, I thought he threw with no fear," Hyde said on his Zoom call. "Really nice cutter going to both sides, got in on some hitters, didn't walk many, got a lot of ground balls, pitched to contact. I thought he did a great job, especially in his first ever start.

"We haven't gone five innings very often and so to see a starter go five innings was fantastic. Pleased with how he competed and the stuff that he showed."

Domingo Leyba opened the fifth by reaching on Bichette's throwing error and Mullins homered in back-to-back games for the third time this season. No. 16 moved him past Trey Mancini for the team lead and put the Orioles in front 4-1.

Mancini singled off reliever Trent Thornton with one out, advanced to third base on Ryan Mountcastle's double and scored on a wild pitch. Santander unloaded on a 95 mph fastball, reaching Eutaw Street with his 431-foot blast for a 7-1 lead.

The five-run inning helped the Orioles improve to 28-57 overall and 3-5 against the Blue Jays.

Santander's ball is the 109th to land on Eutaw Street and the 50th by an Orioles player. He's done it four times.

"I've been working on my rhythm since I came back from the injury," Santander said via interpreter Ramón Alarcón. "I think I felt out of sync and out of rhythm, so the past few weeks, I've been working on that, trying to get my body synchronized, better rhythm, and I think that's why I'm getting better results at the plate."

"Big swing," Hyde said. "They've been elevating fastballs on him, and he was a little bit late and underneath, and for him to be on time with one and hit it like that ... I think Tony's coming. I give him a ton of credit. This guy has been grinding for a couple months now and playing a little banged-up. I need to get him off his feet a little bit. But for him to be short to the baseball right there and get on an elevated fastball, a good elevated fastball, and do what the did, that's huge for his confidence."

Watkins was the 11th Oriole to make his major league debut this season when he came out of the bullpen Friday night in Anaheim. Nine are pitchers, the most in the majors.

That experience carried over to tonight.

"There were absolutely some nerves going on," said Watkins, who allowed three hits in five innings with three walks and two strikeouts among 89 pitches. "I think getting my feet wet in Los Angeles was a huge step for me in a sense that I knew what to expect coming in with the adrenaline and everything. So I think moreso today it was the adrenaline and the excitement of that first start, getting an opportunity to go deep in a game. The nerves were definitely there, but the adrenaline, I think, was showing through."

Watkins got his first strikeout in the second inning when Oriole killer Randal Grichuk couldn't check his swing on an 86 mph cutter. Bichette walked with one out in the third and Guerrero bounced into a 6-4-3 double play.

Austin Hays doubled in the first inning, hesitating on his way to second before gambling that he could get to the bag after a poor read and throw from Gurriel. The next Orioles hits came in the third on back-to-back singles by Pat Valaika and Leyba that were followed by two strikeouts and a fly ball.

The Orioles were 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position through the third. Ramón Urías singled with two outs in the fourth - he's hit safely in 13 of his last 14 games - and Severino drove a 95.7 mph sinker 407 feet to left field for a 2-1 lead.

Watkins' second strikeout came on an 84 mph slider to George Springer leading off the fourth before he walked Teoscar Hernández and retired the next two batters.

"I think everybody handles pressure differently," Hyde said. "There's a ton of adrenaline when you've worked for something your whole life and to get the opportunity to do it on a big stage ... I'm sure he's extremely happy and relieved and a lot of positive emotions. Good for him.

"We're going to run him out there his next time out, so we're going to give him an opportunity to start for us. We all know we're a little short in the rotation and we're going to give him an opportunity. (John) Means is going to come back here pretty soon, but there's a lot of season left and we're going to need people to be able to pitch innings for us and hopefully Spenser can continue to throw like that."

Watkins had his agent and his father-in-law, Craig McGowan, in the stands. He had a big celebration with teammates waiting for him inside the clubhouse.

"We had a great time," he said. "The guys surrounded me. I got the lineup card and everything. We had a fun little celebration, traditional stuff they put me through. It was a lot of fun."

Grichuk led off the seventh with a home run off Dillon Tate, his 21st against the Orioles in 48 career games.

Guerrero hit a solo home run off Tanner Scott in the eighth, the ball traveling 438 feet to center field. Only the second allowed by Scott this season.

Rule 5 pick Tyler Wells served up a two-run homer to Gurriel in the ninth. He had allowed only two runs in his last 12 appearances, both on June 19, before tonight.

Hyde said Maikel Franco's sore right ankle caused him to be scratched from the lineup. He got treatment, tried to do a few things on it and decided he couldn't play.

Notes: Dean Kremer lasted only 1 2/3 innings tonight at Triple-A Norfolk and left with the bases loaded and the Tides trailing 4-0. All three inherited runners scored, with shortstop Mason McCoy charged with a two-run fielding error.

Kremer allowed four earned runs and seven total, with five hits, two walks and two strikeouts among his 55 pitches. Durham's Kevin Padio hit a two-run homer in the first.

Brett Cumberland was hit by a pitch for the 21st time this season and 98th of his career.

Double-A Bowie's Doran Turchin hit a two-run homer in the third and Adley Rutschman had an RBI double later in the inning. Robert Neustrom and Johnny Rizer also homered for the Baysox.

Cody Sedlock allowed three runs in five innings with no walks, seven strikeouts and two home runs. Blaine Knight replaced him and held Richmond to one run and two hits in four innings.

Gunnar Henderson hit his first home run tonight with Single-A Aberdeen. He also had a single and double.