Santander's walk-off home run gives Orioles 5-3 win (updated)

Manager Brandon Hyde isn’t ready or willing to contribute to the publication of his team’s obit. Not with more games to play, possession of the first wild card and champagne to chill. He’ll keep trying to clear the air of any negativity.

Hyde isn’t blind to the season’s downward turn, but he retains full confidence in the Orioles' ability to get hot again.

Beyond the usual injury and rehab updates, Hyde spent most of his nine-minute pregame media session rehashing what’s gone wrong during a sub-.500 second half and slippage in the division race. Exactly when he began to worry. Why slumps are lasting for long periods.

Hyde finished with a quip about his players occupying the top of Triple-A Norfolk’s lineup, rose from his chair and returned to his office. And the Orioles backed his trust.

A blown save in the top of the ninth inning was followed by Anthony Santander's two-run walk-off homer and a much-needed 5-3 win over the Giants before an announced crowd of 23,181 at Camden Yards. Bedlam ensued. The Orioles were eager to release their frustration and it spilled all over the dugout, track and home plate.

“That’s a reminder of who we are," Santander said via interpreter Brandon Quinones. "Close game, we stay positive, we stay together. ... That's no pressure at all. That’s baseball.”

Michael Conforto’s line drive two-run homer off Zach Eflin in the fourth inning gave the Giants a lead that the Orioles wrestled away in the bottom half, scoring three times and staying ahead until Seranthony Domínguez, seeking his 10th save with the Orioles, uncharacteristically walked the first two batters in the ninth and allowed the tying run to score on Casey Schmidt's fly ball to right-center that fell for a single. Cedric Mullins and defensive replacement Austin Slater dived for it at the same point and collided. Mullins stayed down as head athletic trainer Brian Ebel checked for a head injury.

Mullins remained in the game, Gregory Soto needed one pitch to get a huge double play from pinch-hitter Mark Canha, and Santander barely reached the roof of the grounds crew shed against Ryan Walker.

"It was a breath of fresh air, for sure," Eflin said. "A lot of emotion in the win today with Tony’s walk-off homer. I think that helps everybody out, so we’re looking to take that momentum into the next series."

Hyde says it's never easy. Why should today be any different?

“I was hoping for a wind gust," he said after earning his 400th win. "I was yelling, ‘blow, blow, blow.’ The wind was doing weird kind of things that it normally doesn’t do here, like you saw in the top of the ninth. I didn’t know if he had enough of it or not. So that was definitely a hit we needed.”

Gunnar Henderson singled with one out, Mullins struck out and Santander launched the eighth pitch of the at-bat after four consecutive foul balls to give him 42 homers. This is his third career walk-off, which he punctuated by yelling at the dugout and leaping in the air and pumping his fist before rounding the bases. The Orioles have four walk-off home runs this season.

"It feels huge," Eflin said. "Honestly, I was in here celebrating it in the clubhouse. Wish I was out there, but it was a total team win. I think anytime Tony’s in a situation to win the ballgame we feel really good as a team."

Santander didn't know whether the slider that he walloped had enough gas.

“I was like this," he said, blowing air three times. "Keep going, please. I hit it high. I knew I hit it good on the barrel, but too high. I was hoping that the ball kept going. Thankfully, it did.”

The Orioles (85-68) won for only the fourth time in 13 games. They avoided the sweep and drew within 4 ½ games of the first-place Yankees, who are in Seattle.

"I thought it felt like the guys were doing everything they can to win this game today," Hyde said. "Not that they haven’t been, but for me, this was a needed win and proud of our guys for how they competed today.”

“We need it a lot," Santander said. "We’ve been struggling, but like I said the other day, we need good momentum to the playoffs next week, and that was a great win for us as a team, and also for the skipper, his 400^th win.”

What did Santander shout at the dugout before it emptied?

“I was saying, ‘Let’s go,'" he said. "I let them know that’s who we are. We know that we have a lot of hits like that, a lot of walk-offs. That’s good energy, the energy we need for the next week.”

Santander led off the fourth with a walk, Colton Cowser singled, and Adley Rutschman concluded an eight-pitch at-bat with an RBI double. Jackson Holliday stepped to the plate with two outs while Giants starter Logan Webb threatened to limit damage and lined a two-run single to center field for a 3-2 lead.

Holliday walked in his first plate appearance, and also made a leaping catch of Mike Yastrzemski’s 104.3 mph liner to end the fifth inning. He singled and scored a run last night.

“I think the main focus that I've been working on lately is just trying to hit line drives with every pitch," he said. "It’s something (offensive strategy coach Cody) Asche and I have been talking about and past two games and I've been able to do that. So, no different, just trying to hit a line drive up the middle and got a changeup that I saw early and I was able to stay through it.”

Holliday's skill set apparently includes calling walk-offs.

“Yeah, I told (Ryan) O'Hearn that I thought he was going to hit a homer," Holliday said. "I've seen it. I know kind of how he thinks and kind of his approach, and I thought he was going to hit a slider for a homer and, I mean, it was pretty amazing that he did. That guy has got pretty good stuff on the mound. So, it was awesome for him to kind of end it there.”

Hyde’s patience is tested from the start of his days to the conclusion and today was no different. It comes with the job. But he rarely allows outsiders to measure the depth.

The stoicism, if that’s the right word, is more beneficial to the team than tantrums and theatrics.

“I think you try a little bit of everything at this point,” he said earlier today with a chuckle. “Yeah, I’m trying to stay patient and positive. It’s hard right now. You try to check in with players as much as you possibly can. Try to be patient in here (interview room), too, and positive. Sometimes I don’t feel very positive. I try to be as positive as I possibly can, and I want the players to see that we believe in them and I believe in them and we’re going to pull out of this.

“I think that we’re a lot better team than how we’ve played the last couple months, especially as of late. That our offense is way better than how we’re performing and we should be performing. I was thinking today, we probably had eight or nine guys who could have made the All-Star team. And the second half has been rough for most of them. That’s just unfortunate, but there’s nothing you can do. Nobody’s gonna feel sorry for you, and you’ve got to buckle up and try to perform and try to stick behind them as much as you possibly can.”

The season is down nine games, with the final series at home beginning tomorrow night against the Tigers. The Orioles are 27-30 since the All-Star break.

The euphoria of the 2023 season seems fresh at times and miles away at others.

“Last year feels like a long time ago,” Hyde said. “I feel like every win this second half has been hard. … First half we had a lot of things go right and the second half, it’s just been a grind every single game. Even in wins, it’s been hard. We’ve got a week and a half left, whatever it is, and hoping that we can start playing with a lead a little bit, too. It’s tough to play from behind in most games. So hopefully we can get some offense going early.”

This is where Hyde gently moved the line of questioning in another direction.

Asked when he began to notice that the season was wavering, Hyde said, “Well, I’m not talking about that yet. I’m really focusing on these last, whatever we’ve got left. This game and the last three series. These last three series are obviously really important, today’s really important.”

The game was scoreless until the fourth. Jerar Encarnacion beat out a slow roller to the left side and Conforto lined a 3-0 cutter 370 feet to the first row of seats in right field at 113.2 mph off the bat. Low and fast.

Eflin ran into trouble in the second on Conforto’s ground ball that ricocheted off first base for a single and Tyler Fitzgerald’s bunt hit. A double play and strikeout ended the rally.

Making his eighth Orioles appearance, Eflin produced his seventh quality start by holding the Giants to two runs and scattering six hits in six innings. He escaped a two-on, two-out jam in the sixth when right fielder Heston Kjerstad made a running catch of Patrick Bailey’s fly ball at the track.

Eflin has registered a 2.31 ERA since Mike Elias acquired him from the Rays near the deadline.

"I felt good," he said. "Really wish I would have thrown more first-pitch strikes. I’m getting really good at 1-0 counts right now, which is not good. But Adley did a great job behind the dish of really kind of keeping us on the same page, and he called a great game. But really, it took all 28 of us today.

"It was just a fun win. Looking around the field, you have Jackson making a bunch of really good plays, you have Heston making a bunch of good plays. Getting guys over when we need to. Scoring, obviously. Tony late in the game doing his thing. It was a lot of fun today."

Cionel Pérez allowed the first two batters to reach in the seventh, including a leadoff walk to pinch-hitter Heliot Ramos, who let the bat slip from his hands on an earlier swing and become tangled in the netting near the visiting dugout. Play continued with the lumber too high to retrieve, and Pérez recorded two strikeouts and retired LaMonte Wade Jr. on a 109 mph liner to Kjerstad.

Yennier Cano, pitching for the first time since Sept. 11, retired the side in order in the eighth with an assist from Mullins, who made a diving catch in center. Mullins also became the fourth Orioles player to have at least three seasons with 30-plus stolen bases, along with Brian Roberts, Brady Anderson and Al Bumbry. Roberts did it four times.

Henderson led off the bottom of the first inning with a 110.6 mph single and his 20^th stolen base, allowing him to join Manny Machado, Curtis Goodwin, Don Baylor and Rich Coggins as Orioles to swipe that many bags at age 23 or younger. He also became a first-time member of the 30/20 club. Webb struck out the next three batters.

The Orioles didn’t have another hit until Cowser’s single in the fourth. They didn’t waste that opportunity.  

They did just enough to win a game and make their manager proud, but also nervous as they left the bases loaded in the seventh, fumbled a lead in the ninth and almost lost their center fielder. The smiles were genuine. And the clubhouse music was cranked.

Mullins wasn't at his locker after the game but Hyde said he appeared to be fine. Another stressor on a day that finally brought some joy.

Hyde talks to certain people in the industry when the going gets tough, including one of his closest friends, Orioles field coordinator Tim Cossins, his “rock” for many years since their high school days. He spoke with players on the last road trip to ascertain how they felt about his handling of the adversity, making certain that they viewed the staff as staying positive.

Baseball is equipped with a broad support system. You can’t be shy about tapping into it. And there’s always family.

“Sometimes I call my dad,” Hyde said. “People that care about you.”

* Ramón Urías went 1-for-3 in his first rehab game with Triple-A Norfolk. Jordan Westburg went 1-for-4 with an RBI single, walk and run scored, and he committed an error at second base.

Trevor Rogers allowed three runs and four hits in 5 2/3 innings, recording two walks, seven strikeouts, a wild pitch and two balks. He threw 101 pitches, 64 for strikes. Dylan Beavers had three RBIs.