BALTIMORE -- The Orioles aren’t going to let their postseason hopes die, despite the slim odds.
It hadn’t been looking great of late for Baltimore, which entered Monday on a six-game losing streak and with only a 2.8% chance of reaching the playoffs, according to FanGraphs. However, the O’s were four games back of the third American League Wild Card spot with 18 to play, so they remained mathematically alive.
As long as that’s the case, the Orioles are treating every contest as a big one -- especially this three-game series vs. the Guardians that began Monday afternoon at Camden Yards.
“Even though we lost six straight, there’s still season ahead of us. We’re still in it,” manager Craig Albernaz said prior to the opener vs. Cleveland. “We have to not look at, and flush, the last six games and look ahead.”
The O’s did exactly that as they snapped their season-long skid with a 6-4 victory over the Guardians. Trevor Rogers tossed a season-high 7 1/3 innings of one-run ball, Coby Mayo belted a pair of home runs and lefty Josh Walker recorded his first career save for the club’s 70th win of the campaign.
Baltimore (70-75) now sits three games back of Cleveland (73-72), though it also trails Toronto (72-72 entering Monday) and Texas (71-73) in a crowded Wild Card battle.
A sweep would be huge for the Orioles this series. Not only because it would help them reestablish positive momentum and pull them closer to the Guardians, but it would give them the potential tiebreaker between the two teams. (Cleveland leads the season series, 3-2.)
But the O’s can’t -- and won’t -- look too far ahead. Their aim is to start stacking wins.
“It wasn’t on my mind at all,” Rogers said of the big picture. “We’ve got to do a good job of flushing -- learning from it, but also flushing the past and focusing on the present. It doesn’t really matter where we’re at in the season in terms of our preparation and how we go about the game. Our backs are up against the wall, but it feels like it’s been like that for the majority of the year, and that’s when we play our best baseball.
“We got the job done today, and get ready for tomorrow and get the job done.”
Rogers cruised for much of Monday’s outing, as the 28-year-old left-hander retired 20 of the 26 Guardians batters he faced, including 16 in a row after Steven Kwan’s leadoff single in the first. Cleveland’s lone run off Rogers came via a trio of two-out hits in the sixth, with Jo Adell blooping an RBI double into right to cut the Orioles’ lead to 4-1.
Baltimore immediately responded, though, via Mayo’s second home run of the day and 21st of the season -- a two-run shot off right-hander Slade Cecconi. The Statcast-projected 411-foot blast gave the 24-year-old Mayo the first multi-homer game of his 218-game MLB career.
Mayo also homered in the third, a 426-foot solo shot off left-hander Joey Cantillo, his MLB-high 16th homer off a southpaw this year. (No other player entered Monday with more than 14.) Mayo is two homers vs. lefties from tying Gary Roenicke (1983) for the most against southpaws in a season in O’s history (since 1954).
The Orioles drew seven walks, all coming during the first three innings. Their three-run rally in the third also featured bases-loaded free passes for Blaze Alexander and Pete Alonso.
It was a much better showing from a Baltimore offense that scored 12 total runs during its six-game losing streak and only one over its previous three matchups vs. Boston.
“You’re going to go through stretches, and some are going to come at bad times,” Mayo said. “We didn’t play good baseball offensively this last week. We did ourselves no favors against Colorado those last two games, and the four games against Boston, it definitely was not up to standard. And I take some of the responsibility because they had three lefties going and I couldn’t get the big hit when we needed it.
“So, you’re just trying to take it day by day. I think when you can flush a game right after the game’s over at night and go to sleep and be ready to play the next day and do your homework, that’s all you can ask for.”
As the O’s look to keep playing well against the Guardians the next two days, they’ll keep the same approach. Their confidence in what they believe they can still accomplish isn’t wavering, either.
“It’s 10 out of 10. The Red Sox are on a heater, and they beat us. Tip your cap to them. [The Guardians] are a really good team also, and we beat them today,” Rogers said. “Check the box on that, get ready for tomorrow and do the same thing.
"I have the absolute most faith and trust in this team. Control what we can control, play good baseball, and at the end of the year, let it be what it is. Give it our all, and see what happens."