Another great start propels Orioles to victory in series finale

WASHINGTON – Left-hander MacKenzie Gore presented a huge challenge for an Orioles lineup that has struggled to hit lefties all season.

How could the Orioles lineup hope to find its rhythm against a lefty that led Major League Baseball in strikeouts per nine innings entering the night? That's all anyone was talking about entering tonight’s game.

As it turns out, Gore wasn’t the story. Cade Povich was. And on the back of their young left-hander, the Orioles avoided a sweep and left D.C. with a 2-1 win, their first victory scoring fewer than five runs this season.

Tomoyuki Sugano had been the only O’s starter to put up consistent numbers in recent weeks. The veteran right-hander, in his first major league season, did so again last night, tossing an admirable seven innings.

Povich was even better.

“That’s the best start I’ve seen him make,” manager Brandon Hyde said after the game. “Just the command, how he got ahead of hitters, that was the key for me. 0-1 on so many guys and it allowed him to expand the strike zone a little bit. One mistake to (Josh) Bell, that was pretty much it in the evening. He just threw the ball so well.”

The left-hander delivered 6 ⅔ innings of outstanding baseball, allowing just one earned run and four hits while striking out five and walking one. He could’ve completed seven had it not been for a Gunnar Henderson fielding error, but Yennier Cano closed out the frame with just one pitch. 

Against righties, it was a lot of fastball-changeup. Against lefties, a lot of sinker-sweeper. Both plans were executed to perfection. 

“I think a lot of it was just trusting (Adley Rutschman) back there,” Povich said after the win. “He called a great game. Trusting what was working and just kind of rolling with it and attacking with whatever was called.”

The Nationals keeping four left-handed hitters in the lineup allowed the Nebraska product to dive deep into his arsenal’s bag. 

“When you get four lefties in there, the sweeper’s going to come into play a lot more," Povich said. "A lot of these games in the past, teams usually stack righties. I think that’s part of it a little bit. I think part of it was just how it was playing today, too, even to righties. We were just really able to mix and match everything to both sides.”

Gore still had one heck of a night on the other side, tossing six innings of two-run baseball and allowing just four hits and striking out eight. But Povich’s one-run ball was one-run better. 

And the Orioles lineup did just enough. 

Hyde has concocted every kind of lineup against southpaws to no avail. Tonight, the skipper opted to keep lefties Cedric Mullins, Heston Kjerstad and Ryan O’Hearn in. Righties that normally find themselves on the bench, Jorge Mateo and Ramón Laureano, were penciled into the starting nine.

Mixing, matching and experimenting.

“I feel like any time you’re a late addition to the lineup, you’re guaranteed a hit,” O’Hearn joked in the clubhouse after seemingly being Tyler O’Neill’s injury replacement. “That guy’s (Gore) good. I’m not obviously known for facing lefties, but I’m going to go in there and compete, and happy to come away with a hit in a big spot. Very happy with that and put us in the right direction and give us a win.”

To kick off the second inning, a Ryan Mountcastle walk and Jordan Westburg single had the Birds in business. But Kjerstad struck out, Laureano flew out and O’Hearn went down swinging. Like last night, the O’s came up empty handed in a scoring chance.

The Nationals, on the other hand, did not. As has been the case in five consecutive games, the opposition struck first. Amed Rosario doubled and Bell drove him in to give Washington an early 1-0 advantage.

Playing from behind is hard. Doing it consistently is harder. And for a lineup that’s stumbling, chasing makes it more difficult to keep your feet under you. But tonight, Baltimore’s bats didn’t need to do much.

They did just enough damage in the fifth inning. Laureano pulled a double into the left-center field gap and O’Hearn’s left-on-left single brought him home to tie the game at one apiece.

How’s that for some mixing and matching in the lineup?

With O’Hearn advancing to second, Mateo was robbed of a hit, and perhaps an RBI, by a diving CJ Abrams. Mullins, on the other hand, wouldn’t be denied as his single brought O’Hearn home.

For the first time since Saturday’s game against the Reds, the O’s had a lead. It was just 2-1, but seemingly held more weight and significance than a one-run difference. But with just two runs on the board, a looming thought remained: Baltimore has yet to win a game this season scoring fewer than five runs.

Things were relatively quiet after the fifth-inning excitement. Povich and Gore both cruised until their eventual exits, and it was up to the bullpens to finish things out.

“We just had two really good starts,” Hyde said. “We get good starts, we’ve got a good shot. And these guys are gonna start swinging the bat better, but just really happy. Tomo last night, Povich tonight, that won us the game tonight.”

The Nats bullpen has been one of the worst in baseball this year, and the O’s ‘pen has been one of the best. And in a one-run game, the margin for error was razor thin.

Washington’s bullpen did its job, holding the Orioles without a run over their final three offensive frames.

Félix Bautista did the same, shutting down the Nats’ bats to seal a victory. There would be no sweep in the nation’s capital on this night.

“We’ve got to take it one day at a time, keep competing,” O’Hearn concluded. “I think today’s a big confidence builder, winning a close ballgame like this. We haven’t had too many like this this year. I think when you can hold on at the end there, and have Félix come in and get the big save and stuff like that, it just builds confidence for everybody. That’s what we need right now. Happy with the way we played tonight, take it to Detroit and do the same thing.”

The Tigers pose another big challenge for the Orioles, squaring off against a talented Tigers team with three excellent starting pitchers on the mound in Casey Mize, Jackson Jobe and Tarik Skubal. This baseball thing ain’t easy.

But after back-to-back competitive baseball games with great starting pitching performances, Baltimore finally feels like they have something to build on.