Each recent turn through the Orioles’ rotation, manager Brandon Hyde lamented that Baltimore couldn’t provide Jorge López a comfortable to try to free himself of his fifth-inning demons. Often sharp through four innings, the right-hander continually struggled in the median frame, with narrow margins preventing Hyde from giving López a chance to pitch through it.
López finally cleared that hurdle in Monday night’s 4-1 victory to avoid a sweep against the Boston Red Sox, working a season-high 5 ⅔ innings. Despite having pitched into the fifth inning in each of his six starts, López completed it only once and had yet to take the mound for the sixth. When he began Monday’s fifth by surrendering a leadoff double, it seemed his struggles would only grow. At the time, López had a 42.43 ERA in the fifth inning despite posting a 2.89 ERA through the first four innings of his starts.
Such early effectiveness suggested the potential to thrive in a relief role, but Hyde said he believed in López as a starter, hoping to just give him a chance to get through a fifth inning. His only blip Monday came in the fourth inning. He had retired 10 of the first 11 Red Sox before a single, hit batter, wild pitch and sacrifice fly in quick success tied the game at 1.
Still, Hyde gave López a chance to work the fifth, and he responded to the double with a groundout and two strikeouts. He returned for the sixth inning and got two quick groundouts before center fielder Cedric Mullins’ diving attempt couldn’t corral a soft line drive for Xander Bogaerts’ double. Hyde ended López’s outing at 71 pitches, and Tanner Scott kept López’s sixth-inning ERA at 0.00 by striking out Rafael Devers to strand Bogaerts at third.
That was the first of 10 consecutive outs from the Orioles’ bullpen as Baltimore (16-19) beat the Red Sox (22-14) at Camden Yards for the first time in 2021.
M&M power
Before Monday night, sluggers Trey Mancini and Ryan Mountcastle had never homered in the same game. With each hitting a go-ahead solo shot, that changed.
Continuing a two-week surge as he turns around a slow start to his first full season, Mountcastle homered on the first pitch he saw in his return to the cleanup spot to give Baltimore an early lead.
Mancini then broke a 1-1 tie with a 440-foot home run to center field in the sixth. It was the second-longest home run of his career and the longest by an Oriole this season, according to Statcast. He’s responsible for four of the top five.
Any way you can get it
When Mullins popped up to shallow left field to begin the eighth, it seemed as if it would be a quick first out.
Instead, with the Boston infield shifted to the right side, Bogaerts couldn’t get over in time to make the catch, deflecting the ball twice before it hit the ground. With third base vacated, Mullins raced there, beating catcher Christian Vázquez to the bag for a strange triple. Since Statcast was introduced in 2015, no triple had been tracked as being hit softer than 75 mph with a launch angle exceeding 50 degrees as Mullins had. Statcast gave it a 2% chance of being a hit.
It led to two runs when Mancini singled him home, with Freddy Galvis adding a sacrifice fly later in the frame.
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