Looking back at Orioles' come-from-behind victory over Blue Jays

Orioles manager Brandon Hyde remained confident that the offense was going to erupt. The power would return and the runs would come in bunches. He just couldn’t predict when it would happen.

He needed it fast.

Thirteen Orioles came to the plate yesterday against Toronto starter Bowden Francis and 13 were retired. The scoreless streak had reached 15 innings. Fans were panicked, impatient, livid. And those were the tamer reactions.

Cedric Mullins walked with one out in the fifth inning and the ballpark erupted. Finally, a baserunner. Finally, a pulse.

Heston Kjerstad came to the plate with two outs and parked a 79.9 mph splitter over the center field fence for his first home run. He was in the lineup again with Colton Cowser on the injured list and he’s getting the at-bats that had come only in spurts.

“I think he’s looked great,” said Ryan O’Hearn. “He’s had some bad luck. It’s part of the game. I think he’s looked great. His at-bats are good. Everybody knows what he’s capable of. Big day for Heston coming out with a big homer there and kind of getting us going.”

“Want to hit as many of those as I can,” Kjerstad said. “Me staying with my away approach and flipping balls to left a lot, I’ll run into one here and there and pull it.”

In this case, he also shifted the momentum. Someone had to do it.

“Oh, for sure,” he said. “We finally got energy rolling for us.”

The offensive lull could be blamed on ballpark dimensions and the wind. Yes, we’re looking at you, Kauffman Stadium. Some of it could be blamed on the opponent. Some of it was just rotten luck.

In the first inning yesterday, Gunnar Henderson grounded out at 108.8 mph, Adley Rutschman lined to right field at 105 mph and O’Hearn grounded out at 108 mph. Ryan Mountcastle lined to left field in the second inning at 107.8 mph and O’Hearn lined to first base at 99 mph to end the fourth and keep Francis perfect.

Smack enough baseballs with authority and good things eventually should happen. Kjerstad’s ball traveled 409 feet at 105.5 mph. Rutschman tied the game in the sixth with a 426-foot blast to right field at 108.8 mph. The Orioles hit two home runs after producing 10 in the first three games and only two in the next 10.

“I think Kansas City, it was a big park,” Hyde said earlier in the day. “I don’t think we swung the bat very well in Arizona besides the game against (Zac) Gallen. I’m not concerned about it. I think we need to start swinging the bat better. I think we need to start putting together more consistent at-bats and be a little more competitive at the plate.

“I think the home runs will come when that happens. But we lost a lot of home runs in Kansas City. We probably hit six or seven there. We have guys with a lot of power and we’re gonna put some big power numbers up this year. It just hasn’t happened yet.”

Yesterday’s game was a nice demonstration.

“It’s been tough, weather-wise, in Kansas City,” Hyde said. “I thought Phoenix, the first game, the first five innings were our best at-bats of the year. We were doing a great job of laying off pitcher’s pitches and swinging at strikes. Putting good swings on strikes and not trying to do too much. The second day against (Merrill) Kelly we did the exact same thing early in the game and let him off the hook. We have the ability to do that. We did that a couple days in Toronto, also. Just a little bit more consistent with that mentality, which we will get to. It’s just been a little bit hit or miss right now.

“Sometimes you have to give credit to pitchers, too, and there’s a lot of good starting pitchers in this league and we’ve faced quite a few so far. Just have to get a little more consistent offensively.”

The Orioles started slow again yesterday but showed what they’re capable of doing. This is a good lineup. And Cedric Mullins, with his tie-breaking two-run double in the sixth and his 16 RBIs, is playing like an All-Star again. All of the scoring that inning came with two outs.

“I think this is a good start, just a process-oriented offense that we’ve been looking for,” Mullins said. “There’s gonna be a lot of days where we have to fight and grind for those wins just like today but proved to ourselves that we can do that, which was huge.

“We just started being more patient at the plate, started working the count a little better. In that moment, I was looking for something over the heart of the plate and I was able to work to a 3-2 count, only protecting the zone in that moment. Was elevated, was able to stay on top of it and put a swing on it.”

Mullins barreled a ball and also put a positive spin on falling behind again. The Orioles battled back to win for the sixth time in 14 games.

“I think it was really good for our ballclub to go through a day like today,” Mullins said. “For us to come from behind, continue to grind at-bats inning after inning. Find ways to get guys on base just to give us the opportunity to take the lead.

“We want to learn from a win like this. Continue to have confidence moving forward. We’re never out.”

The manner in which the Orioles won felt like 2023, though the all-orange uniforms hadn’t made an appearance since 2010.

“I truly think so,” said Mullins, who’s slashing .295/.415/.591 in his free agent season. “I think in terms of talent, we have more than we did back then, honestly. I think it’s just guys continuing to have that grit, the want to win every single day. Not giving at-bats away, just finding a way to compete.”

The Orioles also looked like they were turning back the clock with Yennier Cano and Félix Bautista getting big outs at the back end.

“Definitely ’23 where we won, where we were the best team in baseball in one-run games because of the big fellow on the mound, him and Cano at the end of the game and just doing enough offensively or getting a big hit late,” Hyde said.

“You don’t always have one-run games that give everybody a heart attack at times like 2023 did. Good teams win those types of games.”

If the Orioles are creating an identity, Ryan O’Hearn said it will happen “organically.”

“That’s the best possible way for a team to come together,” he said. “You can talk all day long about who we want to be and what we’re trying to be, but until you go do it, I think that’s where a team’s true identity is.”

Another way to bond is to gather at the homer hose, which also returned yesterday. Nostalgia was in the air.

“We talked about it in spring and we decided that we wanted to bring it back,” O’Hearn said. “The old one’s just moldy, sitting in a warehouse or wherever for so long. We got a new one, finally came in today. They had that thing wrapped up and decorated in O’s form as soon as we got it.”