Another look at the late-inning drama Monday at Camden Yards

These Orioles games, they are not dull. That is for darn sure.

The last four games were decided by one, one, two and one run. Three of the four were won by the home team in its last at-bat and the other one the Orioles held on for the close win on Sunday afternoon at Minnesota.

But we saw a wild final two innings at Camden Yards on the Fourth of July and there were some early fireworks. They included right-hander Jorge López yielding another ninth-inning home run. They included Adley Rutschman’s game-tying RBI double with two outs in the last of the ninth. They included Bryan Baker putting up a huge zero in the top of the 10^th and they included a walk-off hit-by-pitch as the Orioles batted in the last of the 10^th.

They are 37-44 at the season’s midpoint, on a pace to finish 74-88 with a second half just like the first one. If they can do even better, they could make a run at a .500 record. Something that seemed quite improbable when this year began.

Let’s start with Rutschman. He had just two extra-base hits his first 15 games with the Orioles and then had 13 over a 15-game stretch, with 10 doubles and three homers. But in his previous four games before yesterday, starting with the second game in Seattle, Rutschman had no hits of any kind and was in an 0-for-15 rut.

But yesterday he had an infield hit in the second inning against Texas and walked in the sixth. When he was batting in the ninth, the Orioles had just seen a 5-5 tie turn into a 6-5 deficit when Marcus Semien homered off López in the top of the ninth. Another late homer was about to do the Orioles in.

But instead it was Rutschman to the rescue with his biggest hit yet as an Oriole. He ripped a double off the right-field wall off Rangers closer Joe Barlow with two outs and pinch-runner Ryan McKenna on first. The count was 0-1 and the Orioles were down to their last out. But Rutschman came through in a huge way to extend the game. Up to that at-bat he was hitting .146 this year when batting with runners on base and had been just 1-for-17 when batting in the ninth inning.

Baker was another hero, stranding the placed runner, Mitch Garver, and Kole Calhoun, who had walked, during his scoreless top of the 10^th, which included two strikeouts. He was the winning pitcher. Baker has allowed just one run and three hits over his past six games, encompassing 9 1/3 innings. And opponent batters are just 3-for-30 against him in that span.

In the O’s 10^th, Rougned Odor dropped a nice bunt to put runners on the corners. After an intentional walk, lefty Matt Moore plunked Jorge Mateo near the left knee and he limped to first base with a walk-off hit-by-pitch. A crazy ending to a crazy ballgame. That is believed to be the first walk-off win in O’s history via a hit-by-pitch.

Maybe the Baltimore offense perked up a bit on Monday. The Orioles have still scored just 18 runs over the past six games, but now they have a two-game winning streak. Thanks to holding a lead Sunday and overcoming a couple of deficits on Monday.

With 37 wins at the season's midway point, how will the Orioles do in the next 81?