More on a dramatic win and Mike Elias on trade deadline

With his team's losing streak at six games, it had been a week between wins. The Orioles lost three straight to Toronto and it would be three in a row against Boston with another loss last night.

So O's manager Brandon Hyde was ready to try to make any move that could help his team win Saturday night.

"We chased that one a little bit knowing we have an off-day Monday," Hyde said on a Zoom call after their 5-4 10 inning win over the Red Sox. "I kind of went for it bringing in Tanner (Scott) early, (Mychal) Givens one plus in the seventh there. Just chasing a win. I felt like our guys really needed to celebrate tonight a little bit. Needed to feel a win so I was trying to give us every opportunity."

A guy that may be overlooked in the victory is right-hander Miguel Castro. After Cole Sulser had walked in the go-ahead run in the 10th, Boston had the bases loaded and one out and was looking for more. Enter Castro, who had a strong start to his season going but has unraveled in recent outings.

He threw eight scoreless innings to start his year. Then, over his past four games, he allowed 10 hits and six runs with an opponent OPS of 1.500. But the struggling right-hander got a strikeout and popout on five pitches. He kept his team down by just the one run and wound up as the winning pitcher.

"One of the heroes of the game really is Miguel Castro coming in in a big spot with the bases loaded and getting two (outs) to keep it at one. Great job by Castro," Hyde said.

The Orioles were on their way to another loss, down 3-1 in the eighth with two outs. But Hanser Alberto walked and Anthony Santander smoked a two-run shot to left that went 426 feet down the line. His 10th homer extended his hitting streak to 17 games and got the O's off the mat.

Santander is now tied for the American League lead in both homers and RBIs and ranks eighth in OPS at 1.012.

"He's having a great year," said Hyde. "Huge production offensively and he plays great defense. In the lineup every day. And really becoming an impact player in our game and in a tough division with tough pitching night in and night out and he takes good at-bats. Really coming into his own offensively. But he's not one-dimensional. Runs the bases well and plays really good defense. Great team guy."

O's starter Alex Cobb has seen his club win six games in a row and last night end a losing streak just as long.

"It's totally been streaky on our end," Cobb said. "We have the pieces. I don't believe what we have done when we go on good streaks are flukes. We have some guys that are extremely high-caliber big league players. I think they are learning a lot about themselves right now. It's a learning process that everybody goes through. Santander has literally been just carrying us right now. He's been so fun to watch from the first game of the year to right now/"

Elias on a few topics: The Major League Baseball trade deadline is Aug. 31. By then, pending rainouts, the Orioles will have played 34 games and have 26 remaining. They are no longer a team that would qualify for the playoffs if the season ended today. A six-game losing streak took care of that.

But in a Zoom interview with O's reporters Saturday afternoon, executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias echoed sentiments he had expressed before. In this very unique season, he is not sure how the trade deadline with play out. He sounded like a man at this point that is neither in full sell or buy mode.

"There are so many dynamics and variables this year," Elias said. "It's hard to list them all. Could be that nothing happens. Could be that we make three or four trades. Despite the fact our club is playing well and has a good record and is in the mix, we are still listening on players that are on our major league roster if it makes sense for our future and for next year in the broader picture. But we are not extra motivated to do anything.

"I think we're looking at it from both angles. We're not going to sell just to sell and get more prospects. But we're not going to hold onto every single person on the team just because we're close to a .500 club right now. We're going to look at everything on a case-by-case basis.

"I still maintain from a strategic standpoint from where we started from, you know this being a 100-loss team two years in a row and starting from that point and the total lack of an international pipeline that everyone else has, we've got some catching up to do on a pipeline and filling in the farm system. We've made a lot of progress but we're still keeping a broad eye on that. In the division we're in, we're trying to catch up with the Yankees and the Rays. It's a high bar. So it's nice to see some improvement from the team. The effort and energy has been incredible, but we're going to be thinking about more than this season when we go into the trade deadline this week."

I asked Elias about the lack of innings from the Orioles starters this year and his concern level about that. Going into last night's game, the bullpen had pitched 117 innings on the year and the starters 114. In the previous 10 games, the O's rotation ERA was 7.19 and their starter had gone four innings or less six times. Orioles starters have covered just 41 1/3 innings in those 10 games.

If Elias brings any of his young pitching prospects over from the Bowie camp, would he move any of them right into the rotation?

"I think we would certainly be open to, if and when we promote a starting pitcher prospect, to having them start right off the bat," he said. "(Keegan) Akin was a little different situation because we were in a stretch where we were in need of a long reliever. He was the next man up. I think it was a good time to give him a big league opportunity. When we bring him back, if there is a rotation spot open, that might be the role that he is in then."

Elias sounded like a guy who is considering some of his young talent at Bowie for spots on the major league roster before this year is out.

"Any of the guys that are at Bowie right now that are upper level - Double-A, Triple-A guys - they all have a chance of getting called up this year," Elias said. "Just depending on circumstances on the roster and, you know, maybe how the trade deadline goes. Any of those guys that played a good chunk in Bowie last year or higher need to be ready."

Walkoff and a #baseballsky. Not a bad little Saturday. pic.twitter.com/dQnTXghkhx

-- Baltimore Orioles 😷 (@Orioles) August 23, 2020

Sevy with the walkoff. @geoffontheair and @kevinnbrown on the calls.#Birdland x @BankofAmerica pic.twitter.com/gImHnVbWni

-- Baltimore Orioles 😷 (@Orioles) August 23, 2020