PHOENIX — On Saturday, it was seven straight hits. On Sunday, it was only five hits in a span of six batters. But, in both cases, the Orioles’ offense broke a game open against the Arizona Diamondbacks with one dominant inning.

Baltimore spurred its way to a series victory over Arizona at Chase Field on Sunday with a four-run sixth inning, one day after posting a six-run frame to recover from a series-opening loss. After Friday’s defeat, manager Brandon Hyde challenged his club to improve its at-bats. The Orioles did so, exemplifying the manner of that improvement in bunches by stringing hits together.

In Sunday’s 8-5 win, Ryan O’Hearn’s double to begin the sixth led off the spark of offense, and Cedric Mullins, Ramón Urías, Jordan Westburg and Adley Rutschman continued it, with the latter two also providing run-scoring doubles to break the game open.

That offensive support allowed Baltimore to keep pace with the Tampa Bay Rays, who won Sunday as well. The Orioles hold a 2.5-game lead in the American League East, and they’ve done so by winning eight of their last 11 games.

“They’re good players, we have a good team, and a lot of guys who pass the baton on to the next guy,” Hyde said. “Just really good at-bats, good baserunning, put pressure on defense. We’ve been doing that all year.”

The surge of offense Sunday immediately responded to Arizona’s breakthrough for the second straight game. When right-hander Kyle Bradish gave up two runs in the third Saturday, the Orioles’ six-run frame covered for him — and then some. The same helped right-hander Jack Flaherty on Sunday after a fourth run crossed against him in the fifth, momentarily tying the game.

Baltimore had given Flaherty a lead to work with before he took the mound. O’Hearn checked in with a two-run single in the first off right-hander Zac Gallen, driving home his 48th and 49th runs of his breakout season. Gunnar Henderson added on in the second with a two-run single of his own.

The influence of O’Hearn, especially, has been a welcome surprise this season. He’s amid a career-best campaign with a .300 average and .829 on-base-plus-slugging percentage, and Urías called him Baltimore’s “most clutch” hitter this year.

“He has been just a force in the middle of our order,” Hyde said. “The at-bats he takes, the attitude he brings every single day, he’s just such a pro. He gives you four good at-bats a game, it seems like. Just been a huge lift for us.”

Besides two solo homers against him, Flaherty’s first four innings Sunday were passable. But the right-hander ran into trouble in the fifth and couldn’t complete the frame — ensuring he didn’t go six innings for the fourth straight start. Flaherty was hard done by in the fifth, though, by a bizarre ground ball that resulted in everyone reaching safely.

Gunnar Henderson charged the slow chopper on the second-base side of the bag, and he attempted a lunging tag of Geraldo Perdomo as the Diamondbacks runner advanced from first to second. Perdomo dove out of the way of the tag into the infield grass, and Corbin Carroll beat Henderson’s subsequent throw to first.

On the field, the umpires ruled Perdomo didn’t leave the basepath — an imaginary line that extends 3 feet on both sides of the runner’s direct route to the next base. It’s not a reviewable determination, so the Orioles challenged whether Henderson tagged Perdomo. The call on the field stood.

That sequence led to an early hook for Flaherty after 4 2/3 innings, with an RBI single from Ketel Marte and a wild pitch bringing home the tying runs.

“I thought he battled,” Hyde said. “That play alone there, or the lack of the call on that, made it tough on him. We didn’t get the out, runners advance, et cetera. But I thought he was fine. He battled into the fifth.”

It was a continuation of Flaherty’s tepid performances since arriving in Baltimore as a trade deadline acquisition. In his first start, Flaherty showed his promise by allowing one run in six innings against the Toronto Blue Jays, but he’s followed with 17 runs against him in his last 18 1/3 innings.

He was bailed out Sunday because of another high-scoring Baltimore inning and the bullpen behind him. Right-hander Jorge López was one of the relievers to hold Arizona in check the rest of the way as he made his return to the Orioles.

López pitched a scoreless eighth inning, throwing all eight pitches for strikes. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. lashed the second for a leadoff double, but López mowed down the next three batters to hand over a four-run lead to right-hander Yennier Cano. Christian Walker hit a leadoff homer in the ninth, but the cushion from an offense that burst open in the sixth helped Baltimore hold on to another series win.

“Sometimes we don’t have a good game but the pitcher will pick you up,” Urías said. “And sometimes the hitters will support the pitchers.”

andy.kostka@thebaltimorebanner.com