O's surge continues as 'pen comes up clutch again and again

WEST SACRAMENTO -- Yennier Cano struck his trademark post-strikeout pose on the mound at Sutter Health Park, planting his legs wide and keeping his arms down at his sides.

For several seconds, the Orioles’ ‘reliever remained frozen in place, enjoying the moment, before striding off the hill and pointing up at the sky.

Summoned in a massive spot in Saturday’s game against the Athletics -- with Baltimore up 4-2, the bases loaded and one out in the seventh inning -- Cano came on in his typical fireman role. Not typically a strikeout pitcher, he admitted he was looking for a double play to end the threat. Instead, he struck out Zack Gelof and Lawrence Butler back to back on splitters for a dominant end to a dangerous half-inning.

“That was fun to watch,” Orioles manager Craig Albernaz said. “That was electric, and we needed it.”

Cano’s performance typified the Orioles’ bend-but-don’t-break bullpen in Saturday’s 5-3 win over the A’s. Baltimore allowed multiple baserunners in each of the final four innings but pulled an escape act every time, avoiding major damage and clinging to a narrow lead.

Righty reliever Alex Hoppe pitched the O’s out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth before Cano did the same in the seventh. With runners on the corners in a one-run game in the eighth, Baltimore turned a crucial around-the-horn double play behind righty Cam Sanders. And in the ninth, closer Andrew Kittredge stranded two more runners to secure the victory.

“You really feel good [with] everybody running out of the bullpen,” said starter Shane Baz, who allowed two runs in 5 2/3 innings. “It’s awesome.”

Baz was cruising through five shutout frames before his command disappeared on him in the sixth, leading to a bases-loaded walk and hit-by-pitch to force in two A’s runs. Hoppe, who earned his first Major League save in Friday’s extra-inning victory, looked like he was ready to make it three, starting off A’s designated hitter Max Muncy with three pitches well out of the zone. But he bore down to get Muncy to hit a tapper to third base and end the frame.

It was the first of several key plays made by Christian Encarnacion-Strand, who manned the hot corner for the Orioles. Encarnacion-Strand -- primarily a first baseman during his Reds tenure -- started Baltimore’s do-or-die 5-6-3 double play in the eighth, then stayed back on a chopper to third in the ninth to leave men on second and third and end the ballgame.

“The way he’s been playing third base has been outstanding for us,” Albernaz said. “Those plays were huge -- in big moments, too.”

All those plays added up to the first win for Baz in more than two months. The right-hander had lost his past five starts and was winless in his past 13 outings since a victory over the Padres back on June 12. To Baz, it seemed even longer.

“[Brandon Young] made a joke to me that I haven’t had a win since ’Nam,” Baz said. “It kind of feels true. Sometimes it takes one, you know? It just takes one to get rolling.”

He and the Orioles sure picked a good one: Saturday’s victory clinched their third straight series win and continued their surge up the American League standings. At 67-69, Baltimore enters Sunday’s series finale just one game out of the third and final AL Wild Card spot.

After what Baz acknowledged was a “rocky start” to the season featuring plenty of sloppy play, the Orioles like where they are.

“We’ve done such a good job of not pressing and panicking and trying to do too much,” Baz said. “It’s fun to be in this spot. I think we have all the tools to make a run. We’ve got great leadership. We’ve got a great team with a lot of talent.”

That is evident when it comes to Baltimore’s bullpen, a unit with considerable experience with pitchers such as Cano and Kittredge and young arms such as Hoppe, Sanders and Anthony Nunez.

“They’ve done a terrific job, and I think they deserve a lot of credit for coming in here and getting their job done,” Cano said. “We still have some pieces on the way and some help that might be needed, but with that being said, I feel really proud of the work that we’ve been doing here as a group and really happy with the way that the guys have come in and gotten the job done.”