During the Orioles’ surge this summer to the top of the American League standings, manager Brandon Hyde has frequently said he’s wary of how much he’s used his dominant relief duo of Yennier Cano and Félix Bautista.
The vast majority of the Orioles’ wins have been close, and the middle of Hyde’s bullpen has shown cracks, causing the fifth-year skipper to oftentimes overuse Cano and Bautista in high-leverage situations. Entering Sunday, Cano had pitched in over half the games he’s been on Baltimore’s roster for, while Bautista had pitched on back-to-back days 10 times and more than one inning on eight occasions.
On Sunday afternoon against the New York Mets, Hyde managed his bullpen as if its middle relievers have the same fortitude as the All-Star pairing on the back end. Orioles relievers Cionel Pérez, Cole Irvin and Shintaro Fujinami — all of whom have struggled this season — combined to pitch 3 1/3 scoreless innings to lead the Orioles to a 2-0 win at Camden Yards.
“It’s gonna take all those guys down there the rest of the way,” Hyde said of his bullpen. “I was kind of hoping we’d be in a spot where other guys could step up in big spots, and that happened today because we need Cionel Pérez, we need Fuji, and Irvin was outstanding there in that inning.
“That’s big for all those guys to contribute.”
Pérez recorded four outs after Kyle Bradish battled through 4 2/3 scoreless — but inefficient — innings, including the biggest one of the game with the bases loaded in the fifth. Irvin, a converted starting pitcher, and Fujinami, also a former starter who Baltimore acquired from the Oakland Athletics, retired the side in order in the seventh and eighth, respectively.
Irvin retired the Mets’ Nos. 9, 1 and 2 hitters, including star shortstop Francisco Lindor to end the inning. Fujinami, the club’s lone bullpen addition at the deadline, pounded the zone with nine strikes, including six fastballs over 100 mph, for two strikeouts and a popout.
“I think it’s a special group, as we’ve shown,” Pérez said through team interpreter Brandon Quinones. “Honestly, it’s a really unique group and we just have tons of fun back there. It’s always a great environment, and we just make sure we have a lot of fun when we’re together.”
The effective middle relief, a group that has been hit or miss this season, bridged the game to Bautista, who tossed a scoreless ninth for his 30th save of the season. The outing was Bautista’s only appearance of the series, which Baltimore swept against the Buck Showalter-led Mets. The sweep is the Orioles’ seventh this year while not being swept in a league-best 75 straight series.
After totaling 10 or more hits in five of their previous seven games, the Orioles won despite registering just six with no run-scoring knocks. Their two runs scored on RBI groundouts from Adley Rutschman and Ryan O’Hearn that Mets infielders bobbled to aid Jorge Mateo and James McCann, respectively, to cross the plate.
Sunday was Baltimore’s sixth shutout victory this season. The Orioles have won four straight and seven of their past eight. They’re 16-7 since the All-Star break. At 70-42, the Orioles are three games up on the Tampa Bay Rays atop the American League.
“It was a good series, a good couple weeks we’ve been playing,” Bradish said. “Taking a sweep into the off day is awesome. We’ve got the [Houston] Astros coming in town, so that’ll be another tough one, but liking where we’re at.”
Bradish struggled with command from the first batter of the matinee, hitting Jeff McNeil to lead off the game and walking a career-high five batters. He gave up a free base in all five frames he began, but he overcame those struggles thanks to five strikeouts and six groundouts, two of which were double plays.
In his second season, Bradish has emerged as Baltimore’s top starting pitcher. Over his past 10 starts, the right-hander has a 2.30 ERA and 0.957 WHIP, allowing just 43 hits in 62 2/3 innings. Sunday snapped Bradish’s seven-start streak of going at least six innings.
“That was probably the worst command outing I’ve had this year, but I was able to make pitches when I needed to,” Bradish said. “Four and two-thirds scoreless, gave my team a chance to win. I’ll take it.”
Bradish retired the first two batters of the fifth but then loaded the bases after the Mets sandwiched a single from Lindor with walks from McNeil and Pete Alonso. With the game scoreless, Hyde played the matchup by calling on Pérez to face the left-handed hitting DJ Stewart, who grounded out to second.
“It means a lot to me,” Pérez said about Hyde’s trust in him. “Honestly, it gives me a lot of confidence.”
Over his past 13 appearances, Pérez has allowed just six hits and three runs with eight walks and 13 strikeouts in 13 1/3 innings. That 2.03 ERA and 1.20 WHIP are closer to the numbers he put up last season when he was one of Baltimore’s best relievers.
“It’s not that I haven’t had confidence. I have confidence in their stuff,” Hyde said about his middle relievers, including Pérez. “Some of them have been a little bit inconsistent at times, but I think they’re getting confident honestly. I see Cionel pitching with more confidence right now, and that’s huge.
“We’re gonna need Cionel down the stretch.”
In the bottom half of the fifth, Mateo delivered the biggest hit of the game off Mets left-handed starter José Quintana. His line drive to center field went under the glove of diving center fielder Rafael Ortega, rolling to the fence and giving Mateo a triple. He scored to give Baltimore a 1-0 lead on Rutschman’s groundout to third, which Mark Vientos bobbled to allow Mateo, who started in center field for the first time as an Oriole, to score easily. Second baseman Danny Mendick then bobbled O’Hearn’s pinch-hit RBI groundout in the seventh to allow McCann, who doubled to follow his five-RBI performance against his former team Friday, to score.
“It’s not going to be the same guys every single night,” Hyde said. “That’s what good teams do, and we have to do little things to win.”
Pérez and Irvin, also a left-hander, were used in high-leverage situations because Hyde said he wanted to give Danny Coulombe, the Orioles’ top lefty, a day off. It was Irvin’s first time pitching with a lead of fewer than eight runs since he was moved to the bullpen a month ago. Fujinami, who has at times struggled in pressurized moments since joining the Orioles, pitched the eighth because Cano was unavailable after pitching Friday and Saturday.
In the final two innings, Fujinami and Bautista — two of the sport’s hardest throwers — combined to throw 17 pitches over 100 mph. Fujinami topped out at 102.6 mph on his strikeout of Stewart — the fifth-hardest offering by an Oriole since pitch tracking began in 2008. After a leadoff double, Bautista retired the next three batters by firing 11 pitches over 100 mph.
Hyde said he was “proud” of Fujinami for his success in the big spot Sunday after he struggled in one against the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday.
“He’s had some good outings and some rough outings, and the last two have been really good,” Hyde said. “The game in Toronto didn’t go his way, didn’t have command. … [He] wants to be out there, was anxious to get out there after that outing.
“It says a lot about him, and he’s been really good.”
Around the horn
- Hyde said before the game that outfielder Austin Hays, who was out of the lineup for a second consecutive day, is “just a little sore” and needed a few days off. Hyde said he expected Hays to be available off the bench for the afternoon game. Hays made a sliding catch on the dirt in left field’s foul territory during the ninth inning of Friday’s win and walked back to his spot gingerly. “Made a lot of diving catches on turf, on dirt, and just a little sore,” Hyde said. “Off day works out tomorrow where he’s going to get a few days off here … Just wanted to give him another day to mend a little bit.”
- On this date in 1990, Orioles legend Jim Palmer was inducted into the Hall of Fame. The three-time Cy Young Award winner was a first-ballot Hall of Famer, receiving 92.6% of the vote. He and about 20 other players from the 1983 World Series team, the last in Baltimore, were commemorated before Saturday’s game.
- Austin Voth continued his minor league rehabilitation assignment with Triple-A Norfolk on Sunday, retiring the side in order in his lone inning.
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