BOSTON — Brandon Hyde didn’t want the pressure to rest on one player’s shoulders, so he sidestepped the question. When asked whether he was looking for a veteran to help guide this team back on the right track, the Orioles manager said he’d rather his players relax.
Players were already taking big enough swings — the sort of pressing at the plate that only prolonged a second-half slump.
But, for an offense that needed a jolt, outfielder Cedric Mullins provided the spark with a two-homer night. A veteran of the rebuild, a player whose inconsistencies have left an All-Star 2021 season far in the rearview, Mullins lived up to his spot in the top half of the lineup.
Combining Mullin’s hitting with a stellar start from right-hander Albert Suárez and a late two-run single from catcher Adley Rutschman, the Orioles put together an all-around effort in Tuesday’s 5-3 victory against the Boston Red Sox. They moved within a half game of the Yankees for the American League East lead with New York losing to the Kansas City Royals, 5-0.
“There’s always opportunities for me to be a leader in different ways, whether it be verbally or out on the field,” Mullins said. “Today, I feel like it was out on the field, and I’m just looking forward to carrying it.”
If Monday night was rock bottom — with a 12-3 loss that featured woes with runners in scoring position and a leaky bullpen — Tuesday looked like the first step back toward the light. The Orioles have little more than two weeks to go in the regular season and, for them to rebound, the blueprint will look a lot like Tuesday.
Mullins opened the game as the No. 2 hitter with a bloop-turned-homer, sneaking the shortest round-tripper of his career (334 feet) inside Pesky’s Pole in right field.
If the first one was something of a cheap shot, the second wasn’t. Mullins blasted his second off right-hander Kutter Crawford 407 feet to right field, scoring infielder Gunnar Henderson in the process. It was Mullins’ first multihomer game since June 19, 2021.
“Cedric for the last couple weeks is taking really good at-bats,” Hyde said, “and he was huge for us tonight.”
The two-run homer gave a larger cushion for Suárez, who was at his best. His 21 whiffs and eight strikeouts were career highs, and he did it with a more varied pitch mix than usual. Suárez, who often relies mainly on his four-seam fastball, threw the heater 39% of the time. With elevated changeup and curveball usage, Suárez forced six and seven whiffs, respectively, with those offerings.
Suárez said the increased off-speed usage was by design, considering he faced the Red Sox less than a month ago. In that start Aug. 18, Suárez prioritized his fastball. The change in approach left Boston off balance.
“Breaking ball works because of the fastball, and today I was throwing them more and then they kept swinging at it because they were probably hunting the fastball,” Suárez said. “A lot of the hitters are aggressive. They want to swing early. For me, throwing the breaking ball there today was a big help.”
The lone run off Suárez came in the fourth inning, when Red Sox first baseman Triston Casas clobbered an RBI double. Beyond that, Suárez never faced much trouble throughout his season-high 101-pitch performance.
The Orioles have asked much of Suárez, and the 34-year-old has delivered most of the time. Signed as an afterthought on a minor league deal from Korea in 2023, Suárez is a player development success story. His rise has proven crucial, covering for the absence of multiple starting pitchers due to injury.
“It was exactly what we needed, especially this series after the loss yesterday,” Mullins said.
Added Suárez: “I think we needed this win today to show us that we’re still in a positive spot and we can win. For us, it’s a big win today.”
The two-out add-on from Rutschman in the seventh was also critical. For much of this downturn since the All-Star break, a lack of clutch hitting with runners in scoring position played a role. But Rutschman poked a two-strike changeup the other way that brought home two insurance runs and became the latest sign of a potential turnaround.
Rutschman was a central piece in the offensive inefficiencies. He recorded two hits Monday, though, and his knock Tuesday showed a better adjustment to a changeup — the pitch that has messed with his timing of late.
“That was a beautiful piece of hitting, and that’s Adley Rutschman,” Hyde said. “It’s been encouraging the last few days of kind of his at-bats. The left-field hit for him. He had a big smile on his face. That’s the Adley Rutschman we know.”
Those runs were critical because they covered for the two left-hander Cionel Pérez and right-hander Yennier Cano allowed in the eighth. Having inherited a baserunner, Cano conceded a two-out double to Masataka Yoshida. And, with a runner on third, Cano’s balk brought home a second run.
From there, right-hander Seranthony Domínguez secured the save. The win brings the Orioles’ post-break record to 25-25 and serves as a much-needed bounce back from one of their worst performances of the year in the series opener.
It’s just one win, but one is a start.
