Orioles take sole possession of first place in AL East with 4-3 win over Rays in extra innings: ‘A great team win’

In games against American League East rivals, the little things matter more. When those games go to extra innings, they often make the difference.

Thursday night’s divisional matchup between the Orioles and Tampa Bay Rays — the two best teams in the American League — naturally went into extras. Two Orioles, one veteran and one rookie, came through with sacrifices in the 10th to give Baltimore a 4-3 lead that closer Félix Bautista held in the bottom half.

Second baseman Adam Frazier, an eight-year veteran, laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt to advance automatic runner Aaron Hicks to third, and rookie Colton Cowser, playing in his 11th career game, drove him in with a sacrifice fly to left field. Bautista, who pitched a scoreless ninth to send the game to extras, hit the first batter of the 10th but then struck out Randy Arozarena and got Brandon Lowe to ground into a game-ending double play.

“A lot of guys on this team that are really, really good and know how to get a job done,” said starter Kyle Gibson, who pitched six innings of three-run ball. “That’s how you compete for a division. That’s how you put yourself in a position to make a postseason run is, you do the little things really well and consistently against a really good team.

“Obviously when we’re playing our best and we’re doing that, we have the chance to beat anybody.”

The win puts Baltimore (59-37) in sole possession of first place in the AL East for the first time after the All-Star break since Aug. 12, 2016 — the last season the Orioles made the postseason. The Orioles are one game ahead of Tampa Bay (60-40).

“You really never want to be the team chasing anybody, so hopefully we can keep playing well,” Gibson said. “There’s a lot of season left. But when you’re playing good baseball against really good teams and you’re coming out on top, it just seems to feel a whole lot better.”

Manager Brandon Hyde said he gave Frazier, who was pinch-hitting for Ramón Urías, the choice to bunt or swing away, trusting the 31-year-old would get Hicks to third either way. The fact that Hyde even gave Frazier the option to bunt is evidence of the dominance of Baltimore’s closer and the trust his skipper has in him.

Normally, the road team in an extra-inning contest plays for more than one run, given the home team has the advantage of batting last. But when Bautista, perhaps the most dominant reliever in the major leagues, is available to pitch the 10th, Hyde plays for just one run. The 6-foot-8 fireballer was available to pitch a second inning after closing Wednesday’s game because he threw just nine pitches in the ninth Thursday.

“How about Félix Bautista? I’m so lucky to have him,” Hyde said with a laugh. “He’s amazing, and he does it again.”

Frazier’s bunt brought up Cowser, a top prospect who entered Thursday 3-for-27 to begin his MLB career. He got down 0-2 against Rays right-hander Robert Stephenson, but Cowser lifted a high cutter deep enough to score Hicks easily.

“That’s not an easy spot to get put in, especially just getting into the big leagues,” Hyde said. “To be able to battle right there and get a fly ball deep enough, it says a lot about him. He’s a confident guy.”

The Orioles have won 10 of their past 12 games while the Rays have dropped 12 of 15 this month. Baltimore leading the division on July 20 is a stark contrast to previous seasons during the rebuild. At this point last year, the Orioles were 18 games back of first place in the AL East. In 2021, they were 25 1/2 games out of first; in 2019, they were 34 games back.

Now, the Rays, Toronto Blue Jays (5 1/2 games back), Boston Red Sox (8 1/2) and New York Yankees (9 1/2) trail the Orioles. With three more games in St. Petersburg this weekend, Baltimore has the opportunity to take a four-game lead in the AL East for the first time after the All-Star break since September 2014 — the last season they won the division.

“Even four wins here doesn’t seal anything,” Gibson said. “We’ve got to play two more months of really good baseball if we want to win this division.”

Rays starter Tyler Glasnow opened the game at Tropicana Field perfect through three innings — a common sight over the years, as the 6-foot-8 right-hander has historically dominated the Orioles. Across his first six starts against the rebuild-era Orioles, Glasnow was 4-0 with a 2.08 ERA and a 36.4% strikeout rate. Earlier this season, though, the Orioles tagged him for six runs in 4 1/3 innings en route to a victory, and their bats rediscovered that success in a fourth inning that was as weird as it was fruitful for Baltimore’s offense.

Leadoff hitter Gunnar Henderson began the frame with a ground ball hit to left field. The ball tipped off third baseman Taylor Walls’ glove, allowing Henderson to advance to second. The 22-year-old rookie then took advantage of the Rays’ lollygagging — left fielder Arozarena’s nonchalant throw and Walls’ failure to cover the bag — to take third for a triple.

“Total heads-up play,” Hyde said of Henderson’s triple.

Tampa Bay brought the infield in despite having a 1-0 lead with no outs, and Adley Rutschman hit a Baltimore chop over second baseman Lowe’s head to score Henderson. Anthony Santander then singled on a ground ball where the shortstop would’ve been had the Rays not been shifting, and he and Rutschman later advanced on a wild pitch.

Rutschman scored on a sacrifice fly from Ryan O’Hearn, and Santander raced home from second on a ground ball single from Hicks. The ball reached catcher Francisco Mejía well before Santander reached home, but the hard slide from the 6-2, 230-pound first baseman knocked the ball loose. As Santander walked back to the bench, he waved his helmet to a large (and loud) contingent of Orioles fans behind the third base dugout.

Three of the Orioles’ hits in the inning were to the opposite field; all four were on the ground and got through because of the Rays’ infield alignment.

The Orioles managed just two more hits off Glasnow, who pitched three more scoreless innings to keep the Rays in the game. Baltimore entered the seventh with a 3-1 lead thanks to Gibson, who kept Tampa Bay’s bats at bay.

Through six innings, the 35-year-old allowed just one run with eight strikeouts — his third-highest total this season and second consecutive start striking out eight or more. The Rays’ lone run with Gibson on the mound came on an RBI single from Mejía in the second. Gibson retired 13 of the next 16 batters, including striking out the side in the fifth and inducing three groundouts in the sixth.

However, Gibson allowed singles to the first two batters of the seventh and was replaced by reliever Yennier Cano, who allowed Yandy Diaz, the first batter he faced, to rope a center-cut sinker 109.4 mph for a double to right-center field driving in two runs. Cano stranded Díaz at second and kept the score tied thanks to an inning-ending double play on a 109 mph line drive by Luke Raley.

Gibson’s 19 swings and misses were tied for his ninth most out of 282 career starts. In six starts against AL East teams this year, he has a 3.41 ERA and 1.19 WHIP — far better numbers than his season totals of 4.76 and 1.36, respectively.

After Cano struck out Arozarena to begin the eighth, Hyde pulled the sinkerballer for right-hander Bryan Baker, who walked his first batter and allowed a single to the next. But he struck out Josh Lowe and then was saved by Urías, whose diving stop on a ground ball by pinch-hitter Harold Ramirez prevented the go-ahead run from scoring.

“I think tonight was a great team win,” Cowser said. “[Urías] makes a great play, Bautista goes two … Frazier with a huge bunt. It was a huge, great team win.

The game-ending double play turned by Frazier and Henderson went to review, halting the Orioles’ postgame celebration for a minute before the video review confirmed the call. Bautista (5-1) has surrendered just one run in his past 21 innings with 40 strikeouts versus three walks to drop his ERA to 0.96.

“It feels really good. This is something we’ve worked for all year long,” Bautista said through team interpreter Brandon Quinones. “Since the start of the season, this is what we wanted: Trying to play good games and trying to dethrone Tampa for the first spot in the division.”

Around the horn

• Hyde said he isn’t sure what role right-hander Shintaro Fujinami, whom the Orioles acquired from the Oakland Athletics on Wednesday evening, will serve in Baltimore’s bullpen but the 29-year-old will likely join the team in a “couple days.” “I’m not going to jump the gun on what role I’m going to use him with until I see him or talk to him and let him pitch a little bit,” Hyde said.
• Cedric Mullins, who was placed on the injured list Wednesday with a right adductor groin strain, said Thursday that the pain he experienced Saturday began in his quad before moving up to his groin, the same injury that caused him to miss most of June. “It’s kind of a reinjury of the same exact spot,” the center fielder said. “Definitely want to take the time to treat it properly and make sure everything’s going to be fine.” Mullins said there’s “no way of knowing” how long he’ll be on the shelf. He said he’s able to do “everything but running,” which included taking batting practice on the field Thursday. The Orioles are 42-22 when Mullins starts and 17-15 when he does not.

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