BALTIMORE -- The long ball worked in the O’s favor, with three players whacking home runs in the 6-3 win over the Blue Jays at Camden Yards on Friday night.
Homers by Cedric Mullins, Ryan McKenna and Anthony Santander accounted for all of Baltimore’s runs. The Orioles, who snapped the Blue Jays’ eight-game winning streak, now have five wins in September, already surpassing the win total recorded in August.
The O’s led 3-0 until Toronto chipped away, scoring a run in the fifth and two more in the sixth. Santander, who entered as a pinch-hitter in the fifth, smacked the go-ahead three-run homer in the bottom of the seventh.
Mullins closing in on 30-30 club
For the eighth time this season, Mullins led off with a bang. He smacked his 28th homer of the season off Blue Jays starter Robbie Ray that traveled a Statcast-projected 408-feet to right-center field. His eight leadoff home runs are now the second-most in franchise history, just behind Brady Anderson’s 12 during the 1996 season.
Mullins is getting closer to becoming the first player in franchise history to join the 30-30 club after also stealing his 27th and 28th bases on Friday.
“[Potentially going] 30-30 is an amazing year,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “... To do what he's doing with the defense that he plays, the power aspect, the speed -- he showcased that all tonight -- what kind of player he is. Going left on left off Robbie Ray, who’s got a good chance to win a Cy Young [Award], and take him deep there in the first inning. Extremely impressive.”
Hyde apologizes after exchange with Ray
Mullins' homer wasn’t the only fireworks within the first two innings. Left fielder McKenna took Ray deep in the first with a two-run homer.
In the bottom of the second, shortstop Richie Martin stepped into the batter’s box. Ray stepped off the mound during the at-bat and stared down the Orioles' dugout.
Hyde and the left-hander started chirping back and forth, with some of the skipper’s language being picked up by the broadcast microphones.
“I understand that some of my language was picked up on a mic by our dugout,” Hyde said to begin his postgame press conference. “I just wanted to apologize to all the fans out there, the Blue Jays, Robbie Ray and Charlie Montoyo.”
Hyde didn’t want to go into details about what caused the interaction, however, he noted that he felt like his players were being accused of something they didn’t do.
When Ray was asked postgame what the interaction was about, he shut the question down.
“I’m not going to waste my time with someone that doesn’t get in the box,” Ray said. “I don’t have the time of day.”
“It was a little bit of a heat of the moment,” Hyde said. “We had a lively dugout tonight, but my language, there's no excuse for that. I wanted to apologize and recognize that that was unprofessional on my part.”