BALTIMORE -- More than in any other stretch of this season, the Orioles are using the final few weeks of 2021 to evaluate their crop of young pitchers, many of whom are just getting their feet wet at the big league level after years spent near the top of the organization's prospect lists.

The Orioles are casting a wide net, with four rookies in the current rotation and at least two priority arms in the bullpen, knowing they’ll need internal improvement to compete on the mound more regularly in 2022.

Three of those hurlers played key roles Thursday night in the Orioles’ crisp, breezy 3-0 win over Rangers at Oriole Park, their second shutout in four days. Rookie left-hander Zac Lowther logged five innings and rookie righty Michael Baumann secured four key outs as the Orioles claimed the opener of a four-game series between rebuilding clubs approaching these games like an extended tryout.

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“Getting back to attacking guys and being confident on the mound and trusting my stuff was the message of the week,” Lowther said. “Being able to do what I’m good at consistently is what is going to get me good results. Also, being able to trust that and go out and do it.”

Baltimore’s biggest jolt came from Rookie of the Year candidate Ryan Mountcastle’s 31st homer, and rookie closer Tyler Wells locked down the save. That gave the evening a feel even more geared toward the future. But the biggest impression came from Lowther, who held Texas to three singles, struck out a career-high seven and earned his first big league victory in his fifth career start (ninth appearance). The 25-year-old had pitched to an 8.74 ERA in three starts since rejoining the rotation this month, all of them Baltimore defeats.

“Tonight, everything was improved: presence on the mound, his stuff was sharper and he had more life to his fastball,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “He’s had a couple rough starts against teams in our division, and their lineups are predominantly right-handed, with veteran type hitters. Tonight, he had way more confidence in how he threw the ball. You could see it from the first inning. You hope he takes it into the offseason, and understands he can pitch here.”

Red-hot Hays
The Orioles don’t have a hotter hitter than Austin Hays, who socked his 22nd homer in the eighth inning to put the win on ice. That allowed Hays to leapfrog Trey Mancini for third on the team’s 2021 homer leaderboard; eight have come in 21 games this month.

All told, Hays is hitting .330 with 19 extra-base hits and 27 RBIs in his last 29 games, and he has reached base safely in all but one of them.

Hays and Hyde both credit that production to health -- Hays has been playing every day uninterrupted since early June, after missing a month because of hamstring issues. He also spent parts of each of the past three seasons on the injured list.

“He’s just playing extremely well,” Hyde said. “I think we’ve seen flashes of how talented Austin is but haven’t seen it for a long period because he’s been hurt on and off. It’s hard to get into a groove in the big leagues when you’re taking sporadic at-bats and your season is starting and stopping all the time.”

Sulser love
Quietly, the Orioles’ historically bad bullpen has featured its share of bright spots. One is Cole Sulser, who will finish the year as Baltimore’s best reliever of 2021.

The five late-inning outs the right-hander recorded Thursday lowered his ERA to 2.82 across 57 appearances. He has 73 strikeouts in 60 2/3 innings and leads Orioles relievers in ERA, FIP, WAR and scoreless multi-inning appearances (14) while ranking in at least the 80th percentile among MLB relievers in advanced metrics xBA, xSLG, strikeout rate and chase rate.

“I’ve been trying to be more consistent in the strike zone, trying to cut back on the walks, trying to cut back on being behind in the count,” Sulser said. “That’s allowed me to have a more consistent season.”

It has resulted in a breakout year for the 31-year-old, whom the Orioles claimed off waivers from Tampa Bay the day after the 2019 season ended. After opening the 2020 season as the Orioles’ closer, Sulser settled into a setup role in part thanks to his ability to get lefties out consistently. Lefties are hitting just .196 with one homer in 121 plate appearances vs. Sulser this season.