Brandon Hyde's take on Rutschman's struggles, plus Jimenez's White Sox reunion

On a day the Orioles had one of their highest-scoring games of the year and a day when every starter both had a hit and scored a run, one Oriole had two hits and now the club hopes he can get hot again.

Catcher/DH Adley Rutschman had two hits – one a bloop single – and drove in a run. It was just his third two-game game since Aug. 10.

Since posting an .848 OPS in June, Rutschman put up a .482 OPS in July and a .625 mark in August. Before Monday’s game, he was batting .149 with an OPS of .460 his previous 12 games.

Before the O’s beat the Chicago White Sox 13-3, manager Brandon Hyde said Rutschman was physically fine. Nothing bothering him or keeping him from putting up numbers. Now he just has to get out of an extended slump.

“It’s just been a tough couple of months. Tough since the All-Star break,” Hyde said pregame. “You know, he’s grinding. He’s trying every single day to try to get the feeling back. He is putting in so much work, where we have to monitor it honestly. He is such a huge part of our offense and our team, and he knows that. So, he is probably putting way too much pressure on himself also. I think that is why you see the swing decisions are sometimes not Adley-like. Because he is trying to make an impact and to get back to who he is.

“So, a lot of guys go through this, and he hasn’t had a ton of failure in his career either. Except maybe the first month when he was getting his feet wet and don’t even count that. This is his first time with a prolonged struggle and that is not abnormal. You still have to remember he doesn’t have that many at-bats in the big leagues, even though it feels like he does. Because he’s been so good.”

Through June, in 79 games, Rutschman put up a batting line of .294/.350/.471/.821 with 15 homers and 55 RBIs.

Since that time, over 47 games, he’s hit .189/.280/.287/.567 with three homers and 17 RBIs.

“He’s just dealing with it right now, honestly," said Hyde. "I applaud the way he is going about his business every single day. He’s not outwardly showing frustration or outwardly, you can’t tell really. Those of us that have been around him, we can a little bit. But you know he’s just dealing with it right now. There are some at-bats you say, ‘He’s back.’  There was a walk in Colorado kind of late in the game, that was an Adley Rutschman at-bat for me. So it’s in there and he is just having a tough time getting consistently really good at-bats like he’s done for two plus years."

White Sox reunion: It is a reunion with his former team this series for the Orioles Eloy Jiménez, who did not play yesterday. Traded to the O’s on July 30, the White Sox got minor league lefty Trey McGough.

“It’s going to be fun. I’m really excited to see them. But at the end of the day I’m with the Baltimore Orioles now,” said Jiménez, who has hit .284 with a .712 OPS in 24 Baltimore games.

Jiménez hit .270/.321/.469 in six seasons for the White Sox with 94 homers and 291 RBIs from 2019-2024.

Now he feels for his former teammates, who are 31-108 with 11 losses in a row. Earlier they endured a 21-game losing streak.

“It is really hard. Because, at the end of the day, you don’t want to lose and you don’t play to lose, so it was hard to even when we won, to feel like we’re losing (overall). But I know they’re going to figure it out and they’ll do a better job next year,” he said.

A Chicago reporter asked his reaction when the trade happened and how he felt about the White Sox now?

“I have a lot of memories, good, bad, okay. And I was surprised because by that day I didn’t think I’d get traded. But God’s plan was to get me here and I’m here now.”

More notes on the 10-run win: Monday's 13-run output tied for the Orioles' second-best of the year. On June 20 they scored a season-high 17 runs at Yankee Stadium. Back on March 30 they scored 13 versus the Angels and matched that yesterday. They had 18 or more hits Monday for just the third time with a season-high of 20 in that game in June at New York.

All nine Orioles starters collected at least one hit and one run for the first time since Aug. 25, 2017 at Boston and for the first time at home since Aug. 26, 2011 against the Yankees.

This was the O's third win this year by 10 runs or more. They beat the Yankees 17-5 June 20, won 11-1 at Cincinnati May 5 and yesterday.

Also, all nine Orioles starters scored at least one run for the fourth time this season, the most such games in MLB. Entering Monday, no team had more than two such games and Baltimore’s four such games this year are the most by the Orioles in a single season since 1996. That year they did it six times.

With his three-inning outing, left-hander Cole Irvin was credited with a save. Marks the second save of his career, joining July 19, 2019 at Pittsburgh with Philadelphia during his rookie season.

Outfielder Austin Slater began the game in an 0-for-15 drought, but he went 3-for-4 with three RBIs and added a hit by pitch and walk to reach base five times. This marked the third time in his career that he has reached base five times (last: 9/22/20 vs. COL, w/SF). Slater is now batting .295/.404/.432/.836 (13-for-44) since joining the Orioles.