Cobb looking like chip and O's win in bizarre fashion (updated)

The new baseball trade deadline is creeping up on teams. None are certain how the market is going to evolve in a truncated season. But pitching always is in demand and an expansion of the playoff field could lure more executives into discussions.

Alex Cobb was supposed to be a topic of conversation last summer, except he was injured in spring training, made only three starts and underwent hip and knee surgeries.

Not much demand for an injured pitcher in the second year of a four-year, $57 million deal.

Cobb is back to being a potential chip and tonight's start, while short of his finest work in 2020, won't hurt his value.

What happened after Cobb left won't hurt the team's perception that nothing is going to be normal this year.

Austin Hays hit an inside-the-park home run off Deolis Guerra in the top of the 10th inning, his line drive skipping past diving center fielder Roman Quinn, and the final Orioles rally stood up for a 10-9 win at Citizens Bank Park.

Andrew Velazquez, the runner placed at second base, came home first and Hays kept motoring while Quinn slipped after retrieving the ball.

Robert Andino was the last Orioles player with an inside-the-park home run on Sept. 26, 2011 against the Red Sox at Camden Yards. Tonight marked Hays' first homer of the season.

Jay Bruce had an RBI single off Paul Fry in the bottom of the 10th and the Phillies put two runners on base with one out. A passed ball shoved the Orioles further to the edge, but Quinn bounced out against a drawn-in infield and Travis Lakins Sr., the eighth pitcher of the night, retired Rhys Hoskins.

The Orioles had tied the game in the sixth inning and Cobb left in the bottom half with only two earned runs and three hits on his ledger. Hanser Alberto delivered an RBI double off Tommy Hunter in the seventh and scored on Anthony Santander's single, but the Phillies homered twice off Miguel Castro in the eighth and seemed on their way to a win.

Except that Renato Núñez singled off Héctor Neris with the bases loaded and one out in the ninth to tie the game again, and the Phillies let Pedro Severino's popup drop near the mound to plate two runs and give the Orioles an 8-6 lead.

Now it was the Orioles who appeared headed to a win in regulation, except that Cole Sulser retired the first two batters in the bottom of the ninth, loaded the bases and gave up Didi Gregorius' game-tying two-run single into center field.

Chris Davis drew a leadoff walk in the ninth inning and took third base with one out on Alberto's double to right-center field. Santander was given an intentional walk to load the bases and Núñez lined a single into left after falling behind 0-2. Rio Ruiz struck out and Severino popped up a 2-0 pitch, with Jean Segura calling for the ball and misplaying it after stumbling on the mound.

The comeback took Castro off the hook.

Castro hadn't been scored upon in 7 1/3 innings, but Bryce Harper tied the game with a two-run shot to left - a popup that kept carrying - and Segura jumped on a 96 mph fastball.

Mychal Givens struck out two while retiring the side in order in the seventh, but Castro couldn't put away Harper after getting ahead 0-2 and the inning fell apart. It started with Hoskins' leadoff single on a ball that Alberto couldn't handle.

The Orioles began their rally in the seventh with a single by Pat Valaika, who played shortstop because José Iglesias remains limited by soreness in his left quadriceps muscle.

Santander has eight RBIs in his last five games.

Cobb was removed after 5 1/3 innings with runners on first and second and Tanner Scott left the bases loaded after issuing a two-out walk. He'll carry a 2.75 ERA into his next start.

The rotation has allowed two earned runs or fewer in 10 of the last 11 games. And the Orioles are back above .500 at 8-7.

Núñez ruined Zack Wheeler's shutout bid in the sixth with a single that scored Santander, who led off with a double. Ruiz followed with an RBI double, Dwight Smith Jr. singled into right field with one out and the game was tied in the blink of an eye.

The Orioles lost their lead in similar fashion.

The MASN math on tonight's broadcast counted 57 pitchers on the injured list for non-COVID reasons. Cobb has regained his arm speed and the bite on his split-changeup. And he's gotten results.

Cobb retired the first six batters before Davis committed a two-base error on Bruce's ground ball to his left. A one-out walk was followed by Andrew McCutchen's two-run single and a 2-0 lead. One run was unearned.

McCutchen had the only hit off Cobb until Bruce led off the bottom of the fifth with a 447-foot home run to right-center field, with an exit velocity of 108.9 mph per Statcast.

Forty-one of Cobb's 58 pitches were strikes through five innings. He had 49 strikes among 71 pitches before Scott replaced him.

The Orioles know they can benefit in multiple ways from an effective Cobb, whose contract allows him to block trades to 10 teams. He's a veteran with a track record who can give them quality innings, save the bullpen and keep them competitive. And he might bring back one or more players who can provide talent and depth in the farm system that rebuilding clubs crave.

The Orioles were on the field for the first time since the inability to put a tarp on it in D.C. caused Sunday's game to be suspended.

"Definitely some disappointment," Asher Wojciechowski, who made the start on short rest, said during today's Zoom conference call. "Just not what you're expecting. But that's the way 2020's going, so just roll with the punches and we'll just pick it up where we left off on Friday."

The year keeps getting weirder.

"It's way different," Wojciechowski said. "Everything other than in between the lines is different. When you're training in between starts and then your time in the clubhouse, it's just extremely different. It's an adjustment we all have to make, but I feel for the most part once you cross the lines it's still baseball. But on the days I'm not pitching, I definitely see the difference when we have to sit in the stands or we have to go home because they don't want too many people in the clubhouse. It's an adjustment and we're rolling with it.

"It's different, but when you're in between the lines you're playing baseball and you're competing as hard as you can and you're not thinking about anything else."

O's manager Brandon Hyde on game: "I think that game had a little bit of everything. I just told Cobb that was a great job. It feels like it was five hours ago when he pitched. I just felt like it was a gutsy performance by our club. I thought it was just a grind out mentality. I thought we had great at-bats. Just a great team win. Just a persevering, gutsy, grind out team win."

Cobb on game: "I don't think I can rank it anywhere just because of the new rules ... but probably the most up-and-down game I've been a part of in a long time. When that popup dropped, I was banging on lockers. We were all screaming. We had a good group of guys in there, players that had been out of the game, and we turned into fan boys. It was awesome. Rooting hard for your guys. And it's a lot of fun to be able to watch Lakins finish it off and go high-five everybody afterward."

Cobb on idea of being trade chip: "I think we have something real special here and I want to be part of it. This is the third year I wanted to be on a team like this where we're winning ballgames and we're competitive. I love the place we're in in the standings. This short race, I really see us being contenders. I'd love to be here. ... I feel like that's kind of been hovering around me since I got here."

Hays on home run: "I actually didn't think that he had any chance at all to catch it when I first hit it. I thought it was going to be just a one-hop line drive to him. And I saw him start to lay out and I thought he was going to catch it. It was actually really close. He almost did. I kind of dropped there for a second, thinking it was an out and I wasn't going to get an RBI there. Velazquez actually had a really good read, so I think he was going to score no matter what there. I saw the ball go by him and it was off to the races. I was just sniffing an inside-the-parker the whole way."