Austin Hays’ 2023 season was beginning to mirror his 2022 one.
Last season, the outfielder was perhaps the team’s best player through June with an .810 OPS. But he struggled throughout the second half as he battled through multiple injuries, including a wrist injury he suffered in late June. He hit just .219 after the injury.
This year, Hays was even better in the first half. He wasn’t just the Orioles’ offensive leader, he was one of the best outfielders in the major leagues. His .314 batting average and .853 OPS earned him an All-Star Game nomination. Although, again, he stumbled to begin the second half as his numbers plummeted.
But his monster performance Wednesday in Baltimore’s 10-3 win over the the Los Angeles Angels — 4-for-4 with a home run and four RBIs — was the latest example that Hays has broken out of his slump and is back to the hitter he was in the first half.
“He’s just driving the baseball, getting huge hits for us, plays Gold Glove defense every night in left field,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “Had an outstanding game offensively tonight. He shows up to play every day hard. We set the tone offensively tonight.”
The 28-year-old accounted for six of the Orioles’ 10 runs and one-third of their 12 hits. After roping a double down the left field line in the second, he scored on Ramón Urías’ RBI single that put Baltimore on the board. An inning later, Hays drove in two with a line-drive single to left field and came around on a two-run single from Aaron Hicks. In the seventh, he drove in another run with a sacrifice fly, and he capped off his night in style with a solo home run in the eighth.
In his first 100 at-bats after starting in center field in the All-Star Game, he hit .180 with a measly .467 OPS as he regularly pounded balls into the ground. But in his past 18 games he’s slashing .338/.413/.646 — good for a 1.059 OPS — to re-establish himself as one of the Orioles’ best hitters. After cratering to a .279 average and .754 OPS in mid-August, Hays is back up to hitting .288 with a .799 OPS. All five of his batted balls Wednesday were hit harder than 92 mph.
“I had a tough July just for whatever reason,” Hays said. “I started hitting a lot more ground balls. I missed a few games with that hip pointer, took me a little bit of time to get my fastball timing back.”
However, the bad month didn’t take his mind back to the tough second half last season because of the changes to his swing he made in the offseason.
“Going through those struggles last year, I have some cues and some mechanical things that I can turn to,” Hays said. “I know what I need to work on to adjust to starting to smother ground balls to the pull side again. Going through that, it was good for me just because I learned what I needed to do to combat that and fix it.”
The only run-scoring plays Wednesday that didn’t involve Hays came off the bat of Anthony Santander, who drove in a run in the sixth on a ground ball single and two more in the eighth on his 27th homer of the season.
The beneficiary of Hays’ big day was starting pitcher Kyle Gibson, who tossed six innings of three-run ball for his team-best and career-high 14th win of the season.
Baltimore (88-51) remains 3 1/2 games ahead of the Tampa Bay Rays for the best record in the American League. The Orioles have won five straight games, 11 of their past 15 and six consecutive series. The sweep is their ninth of the season while not being swept since last May.
After going 18-9 in August, the Orioles opened September 5-1 out west. After Thursday’s day off, they play on 17 consecutive days, beginning Friday in Boston.
Gibson good enough
When the Orioles signed Gibson to headline their rotation, he was meant to be a steadying force for a young team.
In many regards, he’s been that. However, alongside his stewardship of the Orioles’ inexperienced rotation has been his own inconsistency. Gibson’s quality start against the Angels was his seventh in 11 second-half outings, but he allowed 25 runs combined in the other four. He posted a 7.89 ERA in August to balloon his overall average over 5.00.
“It was frustrating to be as inconsistent as I was,” Gibson said. “You’re going to give up runs, you’re going to get beat, but when the manager doesn’t necessarily know what he’s going to get out there when a starter takes the mound, that’s the frustrating part. … Everybody desires consistency, whether you’re a player or a coach. That’s really what I’m trying to offer, and I think that’s what I bring to the table most.”
Between his previous start — a 4 1/3-inning, seven-run clunker — and Wednesday, Gibson said he did a “deep dive” into what’s gone wrong recently.
“You guys would look at the sheet and you’d call me crazy,” he said with a laugh.
He wasn’t masterful Wednesday, allowing six hits — including a two-run homer to Luis Rengifo in the third — and walking two against just three strikeouts. But he doesn’t need to be to earn a spot in Baltimore’s playoff rotation. The 35-year-old pitched poorly in September last season and was left out of Philadelphia Phillies’ rotation as they made the World Series.
The only other run Gibson, who was aided by three double plays, allowed was a sacrifice fly to Mike Moustakas in the sixth inning. He has a 5.12 ERA, but he’s allowed three or fewer runs or pitched six or more innings in 19 of his 29 starts.
“Part of this last week was just sitting here and mentally taking a break and mentally not worrying about what the last month was,” Gibson said. “Really turn the page on the calendar month and understand there’s nothing I can do about that month and understand that if I put too much pressure on myself thinking about October, the next start or whatever it might be, it’s not going to do myself any good.”
Around the horn
- Gibson’s first strikeout set the franchise record for most by an Orioles pitching staff with 1,249. They are on pace to shatter the previous record, set in 2016 and matched in 2019, by more than 200.
- Ryan Mountcastle hit a 114.6 mph single in the sixth inning for the hardest-hit ball by an Oriole this season. The rope matched Mountcastle’s career high.
- The Orioles are shifting around their rotation for the series against the Boston Red Sox this weekend. Cole Irvin, who would’ve started Friday had they remained on turn, is being put in the bullpen, evidenced by his inning of relief to close out Wednesday’s win. Kyle Bradish, Jack Flaherty and Grayson Rodriguez are all being bumped up a day to start against the Red Sox. The six-man rotation the Orioles were employing and the day off Thursday makes it so those right-handers still have plenty of rest. Hyde said the club will decide after the Boston series how the rotation will shake out for the seven-game homestand versus the St. Louis Cardinals and Tampa Bay Rays.
- John Means on Wednesday started his final minor league rehab assignment game for Triple-A Norfolk, allowing six hits and three runs in five innings. The left-hander threw 67 pitches and got 13 whiffs on 37 swings, including eight misses on his changeup. He averaged 91.3 mph and topped out at 93 mph — figures slightly below what he was throwing before he had Tommy John elbow reconstruction last year. Means’ rehab assignment cannot extend past Friday, but the team has yet to say what role he will be in when he returns.
- Triple-A infielder Joey Ortiz was scratched from Tuesday’s lineup with left oblique tightness. The club’s No. 6 prospect, according to Baseball America, didn’t play Wednesday.
- Wednesday was the 28th anniversary of Cal Ripken Jr. breaking Lou Gehrig’s consecutive games played streak, as the future Hall of Famer played in his 2,131st straight game on Sept. 6, 1995.
Orioles at Red Sox
Friday, 7:10 p.m.
TV: MASN
Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM
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