Yennier Cano gets Orioles out of trouble in 6-2 win over the Red Sox

It was that devastating sinker that finally got Boston’s Christian Arroyo to swing and miss, the ninth pitch of an at-bat in the seventh inning Wednesday. Arroyo walked back to the dugout — just as the previous 20 batters tasked with facing Orioles reliever Yennier Cano had ended up doing.

There was Cano, that dominating figure on the mound, the 29-year-old who has gone from nobody to somebody special in the span of two weeks. When Cano initially arrived as mid-April bullpen support, he figured to be a helping hand for a taxed group. Now, Cano and his bowling ball of a sinker have become manager Brandon Hyde’s preferred setup duo.

After Arroyo, Cano induced a flyout to end the seventh, stranding two inherited runners. He returned in the eighth, recorded two more outs to tie Fred Holdsworth’s franchise record of 24 consecutive batters retired to begin the season, and then finally ended the streak with a sinker gone wrong. He plunked Justin Turner on the elbow.

Twenty-five of 26 batters, though, is still good.

At the beginning of the season, imagining a situation in which Cano would be the setup man in high-leverage situations would have been far-fetched. But Cano has taken on that role with aplomb, not allowing the first runner on base against him until Wednesday’s 6-2 victory to take the series against the Red Sox.

Cano said he was “well aware” of the impending record he was approaching, but “when it came time to enter the game and things like that, I didn’t think about it much,” he said through team interpreter Brandon Quinones. “Hopefully, somebody will come around and break that record.”

By securing Wednesday’s game, Baltimore managed its 12th win in its last 15 games. The Orioles have won their past five series. They’re playing like a team — at least early in the season — that is capable of fulfilling their internal expectations of making the postseason. At 16-8, they’re second in the AL East — but also tied for the second-best record in all of MLB, as of the end of the game against Boston.

“Just trying to learn how to do it in different ways,” second baseman Adam Frazier said. “Hitting came through today. Pitching was great. I mean, that’s the sign of a good team, if you can pick up one aspect of the game, vice versa, you’re going to win.”

Every game is different. On Wednesday, two sacrifice bunts and three sacrifice flies helped pace a small-ball-oriented offense, with two RBIs from Anthony Santander and the first four-hit game of Ramón Urías’ career.

Out of the Orioles’ 11 hits, 10 were singles. And of the six runs, three came in the fourth, with an infield single from Cedric Mullins joining an Adley Rutschman sacrifice fly and an Urías RBI single.

“We talked about that in the meetings,” Urías said. “It’s not always going to be homers and doubles and that. But we still had a fight every at-bat, one through nine in the lineup, and I think we’re doing a good job right now.”

The Orioles also had another strong start from a starting pitcher, rebounding from the 2 1/3 innings out of Kyle Bradish in Tuesday’s loss with Tyler Wells on the mound.

Wells and the Orioles exhibited patience to get to this moment, with the starter under a tight pitch count last year as he built back up after two lost seasons. It’s paid off in consecutive starts, Friday against the Detroit Tigers and Wednesday against the Red Sox. He went seven scoreless innings against Detroit on 95 pitches, then came back five days later to throw 102 pitches, the most of his career, while striking out seven Boston hitters in 5 2/3 frames.

Wells would have wanted a different outcome on his final pitch, when Justin Turner drove in a run by lashing a fastball out of the zone into the outfield. But on the whole, Wells did what he’s done all year, proving himself as a front-end starter for Baltimore — even as he dealt with command issues.

“Thought he willed his way the whole way, to be honest with you,” Hyde said. “Only one walk. That’s what he does best, is he challenges guys and he throws strikes. I know he was a little bit frustrated with his command throughout his outing, but the competitor in him I thought got him through that outing.”

He struck out the side in the fourth inning, and through five innings, the Red Sox lineup had two hits with just a .092 expected batting average off the 6-foot-8 right-hander. One of those hits was the solo homer from Masataka Yoshida in the second inning, which leveled the score at one after the Orioles had jumped ahead in the first.

But with just two runs against him, the offense and bullpen had enough leeway to close the series victory. Much of that came down to Cano again, a piece acquired in the trade that sent closer Jorge López to the Minnesota Twins last year. Cano struggled for Baltimore last year, allowing nine runs in 4 1/3 innings.

This year? To see a batter reach against him at all was a shock — and a short-lived one, with another streak of retired batters beginning soon after.

andy.kostka@thebaltimorebanner.com

Andy Kostka

andy.kostka@thebaltimorebanner.com

Andy Kostka is an Orioles beat writer for The Baltimore Banner. He previously covered the Orioles for The Baltimore Sun. Kostka graduated from the University of Maryland and grew up in Rockville.

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