TORONTO -- Adley Rutschman could hear his teammates yelling from the first-base dugout at Rogers Centre as he began to round the bases in the ninth inning on Friday night. His 104.6 mph liner landed perfectly in right-center field and slowed it as approached the wall.
With Rutschman a triple shy of the cycle, the Orioles wanted to see him go for three.
“I didn’t have a chance to go three,” Rutschman said with a wide grin. “But I thought it was pretty funny, because they were all hounding me.”
“I understand. You don’t want to make an easy out in this game,” third baseman Coby Mayo noted. “But hey, it’s a cycle.”
This is the type of fun the O’s can have at the moment, because they’re playing great baseball -- and, most importantly, better baseball than they were early in the season.
Baltimore set a new season high for runs with a 13-3 series-opening victory over Toronto, using a five-run sixth inning to get its offense going. The O’s (31-33) recorded their 10th win in 14 games, and they now sit only two games below .500 for the first time since they were 15-17 after play on May 1.
There had been some concern around Baltimore that this season could turn into a repeat of 2025, which brought a 75-87 record and a last-place finish in the American League East. That was especially the case when the Orioles sat 21-29 (a season-worst eight games below .500) on May 20.
At that point, the O’s went 7-3 on a season-long 10-game homestand, won two of three in Boston earlier this week and then continued their AL East road trip with a strong opener vs. the Blue Jays.
“Today was a great win,” Rutschman said. “Just continuing to give good ABs in the box and continuing to tack on runs. I think that was huge, just giving our pitchers the freedom to go out there and attack. So I was really happy with this overall performance today, and I thought we did a really good job all around.”
Friday brought plenty to unpack, and it wasn’t nearly as lopsided as the final score may indicate.
Toronto took a 3-1 lead into the sixth inning, as Baltimore’s only offense to that point had been Rutschman’s first-inning home run off right-hander Trey Yesavage. But the Orioles took control of the game with a five-run rally that featured a game-tying two-run double by Rutschman, a go-ahead pinch-hit RBI single from Jeremiah Jackson and a two-run homer by Mayo.
Although Yesavage yielded four postseason home runs during the Blue Jays’ run to the World Series last year, the 22-year-old righty hadn’t given up any in 51 innings over his 10 career regular-season starts entering Friday.
“Early on, he was making some really good pitches. He was doing a great job through the first five,” said Mayo, who went deep on Yesavage’s 91st and final pitch of the night. “I think we were just able to ride him out until he made a mistake.”
Mayo’s eighth home run of the season (and his third over his past seven games) pushed the O’s lead to 6-3. Then, they kept piling on from there, scoring three in the eighth and four in the ninth.
Baltimore’s 13-hit attack featured knocks by eight different players, though Rutschman was the clear star of the show.
“Rutsch is one of the best catchers in this league,” manager Craig Albernaz said, “and he’s proved it.”
Rutschman became only the third catcher in Orioles history (since 1954) to record five RBIs and reach base five times, joining Matt Wieters (April 16, 2012) and Gus Triandos (Aug. 28, 1957). The 28-year-old also continued his strong defensive season, throwing out Andrés Giménez at second to end the second -- improving to 12-for-35 (34.3%) in attempted steals against him -- and helping navigate right-hander Brandon Young to a third straight quality start.
“He's a stud,” said Young, who allowed three runs in 6 1/3 innings. “He's going to have games like this his whole career.”
“He’s one of the best in the league,” Mayo added. “When he’s going good, look out.”
Though Rutschman didn’t complete his first career cycle, he achieved something more meaningful to him -- another win for his team.
And the other players in Baltimore’s clubhouse would agree. More important than any individual accomplishments is the fact the O’s are hot and clawing their way back up the AL standings.
“We’ve been playing some really good baseball recently, and it’s been a good stretch we’ve had,” Mayo said. “It’s a lot of fun.”