BALTIMORE -- When Trevor Rogers arrived in the Orioles’ clubhouse on Tuesday afternoon, the 28-year-old left-hander was extremely candid about what Monday had been like for him.
“It was one of the longer days of my life, for sure,” Rogers said.
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About 5 1/2 hours before Monday’s 6 p.m. ET Trade Deadline, the news broke that Baltimore was trading outfielder Taylor Ward to Seattle. At that point, Rogers -- who is on an expiring contract, like Ward -- was sure he’d soon be getting a call informing him he’d been dealt, too.
Rogers stayed near his phone. He saw the news that catcher Adley Rutschman was being traded to the Red Sox. He was with right-hander Tyler Wells when Wells was told he was getting sent to the Rays. But when the Deadline passed, Rogers was still an Oriole.
“Honestly, I was waiting for the call, and thankfully, it never came,” Rogers said. “I’m just so happy and stoked that I get to be here with this organization for the remainder of this year and get to be with this group of guys.”
On Wednesday night, Rogers showed his appreciation by turning in yet another gem.
Rogers recorded a season-high nine strikeouts over six-plus stellar innings in the Orioles’ 5-2 victory over the Angels at Camden Yards. The southpaw allowed two earned runs on three hits while not issuing any walks during the 93-pitch, 62-strike outing.
Baltimore (56-58) has won back-to-back games over the Halos coming out of the Trade Deadline and is now only a half-game back of the third American League Wild Card spot, currently occupied by both Cleveland (57-58) and Texas (57-58).
It was the seventh time in Rogers’ 123-start MLB career that he’s recorded nine or more strikeouts, and he was one shy of his career high (done three times for Marlins from 2020-21). It matched his high for the O’s, as his only previous nine-K start for them occurred on Aug. 24, 2025, against the Astros.
“Love having Rog. He was outstanding tonight. He’s been doing it for a long time now,” manager Craig Albernaz said. “The fastball, he was getting it to where he wanted to. Great job with the changeup and both breaking-ball shapes. So it was a really good outing, pounding the strike zone. That was a fun outing to watch.”
For much of the night, Rogers was in complete control. He retired 15 of the first 16 Angels batters he faced, with the only exception being Travis d’Arnaud, who had a two-out single in the second on a routine ground ball that bounced off the bag at second base and into the outfield.
Jose Siri led off the sixth with a home run off Rogers. Then, the second run against the lefty came following his departure, as he gave up a leadoff single in the seventh to Nolan Schanuel, who later scored on Wade Meckler’s two-out pinch-hit single off right-hander Alex Hoppe.
Rogers, who has a 4.20 ERA in 21 starts this season, has posted a 2.28 ERA over 11 outings since June 4. But Wednesday marked the first time he was paired with catcher Carlos Narváez, who was acquired in the trade that sent Rutschman to Boston.
Oftentimes, Samuel Basallo is behind the plate for Rogers’ starts, but Basallo remains on the injured list due to right shoulder inflammation. Narváez stepped in and received a lot of praise from Rogers after the successful start.
“Narvy was doing a really good job back there, just mixing pitches, moving the ball around and really just reading the hitter,” Rogers said. “I think we were on a really good page all night.”
“All the credit is to him. He made pitches,” Narváez said. “He was dealing. Trying to mix locations, trying to mix shapes. But yeah, he was amazing. He’s got nasty stuff.”
All five of the Orioles’ runs came on homers. Tyler O’Neill and Coby Mayo hit back-to-back home runs off left-hander Reid Detmers in the fourth -- O’Neill swatted a Statcast-projected 426-foot two-run shot, then Mayo followed with a 436-foot blast. Leody Taveras pushed Baltimore’s lead to 5-2 with a pinch-hit two-run homer in the eighth.
If the O’s can stay in the AL Wild Card race, this will be the first time Rogers is pitching in meaningful games down the stretch since he was a rookie in Miami in 2020.
Rogers is confident the Orioles can make a push. And if they do, he could be a big reason for it -- now that he’s certainly here for the rest of the way.
“That’s what baseball is all about,” Rogers said. “That’s what we think of when Spring Training rolls around, is meaningful baseball at the back end of the year. I’m ready for it, and I’m fired up for it.”