Mullins on O's latest walk-off win and his recent hot hitting

The Orioles have seven walk-off wins – the latest was by 10-9 in 10 innings last night over the Texas Rangers – but they have no series sweeps this season. They’d be happy to add to either total tonight, but you know manager Brandon Hyde would not mind a much more routine win that didn’t require a walk-off or a lot of late-inning drama.

But last night’s game had both. So did Monday’s game and each one in Minnesota too. The club has now played five straight games decided by six total runs, and four of the five were decided in the final at-bat by the home team. Two they lost, two they won.

If you like down-to-the-wire baseball, the Orioles' recent run has been for you.

The last two nights they were down to their last out in the last of the ninth and down by a run. An out from a loss each time, before an Adley Rutschman RBI double on Monday and Rougned Odor’s solo homer last night extended each game to the tenth inning.

The Orioles (38-44) are now 6-3 in extra-inning games, 20-17 at home, 12-15 in one-run games and 7-4 in games decided via a walk-off, winning seven times and losing four. They have had walk-off wins this year via a walk, error, fielder’s choice, hit-by-pitch and twice by home runs.

And last night it was Cedric Mullins’ RBI double to left-center that ended the game in the 10^th, scoring placed runner Ryan McKenna.

The Orioles last night became the first team in major league history to allow a game-tying or go-ahead homer in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings and still win the game.

“Just a lot of perseverance on this team,” Mullins said this afternoon of the O’s latest win. “You know we have a lot of positive energy, as soon as we show up to the clubhouse. We are all putting our work in at different times throughout the day preparing for the game. Each person has their own individual routine, but it’s a great team effort every time we go out.”

Mullins said it is not easy to put his finger on what exactly is different about this year’s Orioles from the clubs that lost 115 games in 2018, 108 in 2019 and 110 last year. But there is something different.

“It’s hard to explain,” he said. “I say I think, overall, there is just a lot of trust in each other. We take leads and our bullpen guys come in and we expect them to shut things down. If things don’t go their way they expect us to pick them back up. It’s just kind of what we’ve been showing throughout the year.”

As for Mullins, his double that ended the game last night was just the final hit on a big night for the O’s center fielder. He went 3-for-4 with two doubles, two runs, two walks and three RBIs. He reached base a season-high five times, and that is one short of his career-best six times reaching base. That happened on April 4, 2021 at Boston.

For the year, he is now batting .266/.326/.408/.733 for an OPS plus of 108, which is now eight percent above league average. Still well below his OPS plus of 137 from last year, but he is sure trending in the right direction.

Mullins has hit safely in 10 of his last 11 starts since June 23, including seven multi-hit games, batting .391/.453/.587 (18-for-46) with six doubles, one home run, eight runs scored, nine RBIs, six walks, and a stolen base during that span.

He’s feeling quite good on offense right now.

“Just comfortable," Mullins said. "It’s one of those things where I got off to a slow start. Was just trying to find out what was going to help me click, and I never gave up on my routine and continued to try and feel what I wanted to try to feel for each individual day until it felt comfortable.”

As the Orioles look for the sweep tonight they pitch right-hander Spenser Watkins (1-1, 4.61 ERA) versus Texas right-hander Glenn Otto (4-4, 5.63 ERA). Over his past two starts, Watkins has allowed just one earned run in 11 innings against the White Sox and Twins. Otto has given up 10 runs in six innings in his last two outings.