A day when the O's added a pitcher and another AL East win

TORONTO - I don't know what will happen in the final two games of this series. But in the first two we have seen more of what we've seen for most of this 2023 season - the Orioles are pretty great in division games and Toronto is pretty lousy.

With Tuesday's 13-3 blowout - a rare laugher for the Orioles - they are now 23-13 (.639) in AL East games and Toronto is 7-22 (.241).

A team playing at that O's win percentage over a full year would win 103 games and at Toronto's percentage just 39.

But there is more.

The Orioles lost their first two AL East series of the year and Toronto won its first two. So, the Orioles are 21-9 in the division in the last 10 series counting this one and they have not lost a single series in that run.

Toronto is 0-6 in its previous six AL East series. Counting the two games this week they are 3-20 their last 23 division games. That is not a misprint or something inaccurate.

The Orioles are 7-1 against Toronto for the year and 5-0 at Rogers Centre. 

When the Orioles won 4-2 Monday and a reporter asked manager Brandon Hyde about the O's being the best in the AL East and why that was, he quipped, "Well it's not our run differential."

But hey, plus-10 is pretty good.

“Like the run differential (tonight)," he said with a smile. "I like to start working on the run differential. It started tonight. The grand slam that (Anthony) Santander hit gave us some big time breathing room. We had great at-bats all night, really happy with our offense. And our pitching and our defense. We played absolutely outstanding defense tonight."

After the O's let an early 3-0 lead get away, Gunnar Henderson got it back with a left-on-left solo homer off Hyun Jin Ryu in the sixth inning. That gave the O's a 4-3 lead and Gunnar his latest big hit or play on D that led to a win.

"Fun to watch a guy turning into what he is turning into right now, which is a force at the plate," said Hyde.

Since June 1, Henderson is batting .287 (51-for-178) with seven doubles, three triples, 13 homers, and 35 RBIs across 46 games with a .922 OPS. As of the end of the game he ranked second among AL rookies in home runs (18), T-2nd in XBH (37), 3rd in RBIs (48), 4th in OPS (.820) and 4th in hits (82).

I asked Henderson if his play the last month or so on offense and defense has shown his total package of skills?

“I haven’t really felt like I’ve shown the whole package yet, still feel like I’m getting going a little bit. Just now getting comfortable with everything and allowing my instincts to take over and I feel like that’s been a big thing for me," he said.

So, there is even another gear he can get to?

“Just keep playing out there. I don’t want to be cocky or anything. But I just feel like, I know myself and I know what I can do out there and just feel like it will keep coming.”

It's not bragging if you can do it and Gunnar doesn't brag but he sure can do the job.

The new pitcher: The Orioles beat the trade deadline by minutes in acquiring right-hander Jack Flaherty from St. Louis yesterday. He is 7-6 with a 4.43 ERA this year. But in July his ERA was 3.03. And over his past 75 1/3 innings, his ERA is 3.58.

Read more about the addition of Flaherty and Mike Elias' quotes on the deal here. The O's have not committed to him as the starter tomorrow just yet, but it sure seems likely that is when he makes his Orioles' debut.

Final notes: The 13 runs surrendered are the most by the Blue Jays in a single game this season, and the most since allowing 13 on July 19, 2021, versus Boston. The Orioles have scored 13 or more four times this year with a season-high of 15 at Minnesota before the All-Star break.

Speaking of run differential, the Birds have won three in a row by a combined 26-8 score and Baltimore pitchers have fanned 39 batters in those games.

The Orioles are 9-2 their last 11 AL East games.

Santander's grand slam was the second of his career. The first was May 5 this year at Atlanta.

The Orioles are a season-high 25 games over .500.

The O's lead the division by 1.5 games over Tampa Bay for the seventh day in a row. 

Minor matters: After the game last night I reported on some minor league promotions. 

The Orioles are promoting the No. 33 pick in the 2022 MLB Draft, outfielder Dylan Beavers, from High-A Aberdeen to Double-A Bowie. Beavers had an .826 OPS in 84 games with the IronBirds. In July, Beavers hit .397 with an OPS of 1.185.

The O's are also moving outfielder Shayne Fontana from Bowie to Triple-A Norfolk, and outfielder Trendon Craig from Single-A Delmarva to Aberdeen.