Coby Mayo Homers Twice as Orioles Snap Six-Game Skid With 6-4 Win Over Guardians
BALTIMORE — The Baltimore Orioles defeated the Cleveland Guardians, 6-4, Monday afternoon at Oriole Park at Camden Yards, finally ending a season-long six-game losing streak while keeping their fading American League Wild Card hopes alive. Trevor Rogers delivered one of his best starts of the season, Coby Mayo blasted two home runs and Baltimore’s offense finally showed some life after an ugly stretch against the Boston Red Sox. The victory improved Baltimore to 70-75 and dropped Cleveland to 73-72, pulling the Orioles within three games of the Guardians in the crowded race for the final Wild Card position.
Baltimore badly needed something positive after scoring just one run over its previous three games against Boston and only 12 total during its six-game losing streak. Instead of allowing those struggles to carry into another important series, the Orioles created scoring opportunities almost immediately against Cleveland starter Joey Cantillo. Cantillo struggled badly with his command, and Baltimore remained patient enough to turn those free passes into an early advantage despite leaving eight runners on base over the first three innings.
The Orioles broke through in the second inning when Dylan Beavers doubled home a run to give Baltimore a 1-0 advantage. It was a relatively small contribution on the scoreboard at the time, but considering how difficult runs had been to manufacture during the previous week, getting the first run was significant. Baltimore continued applying pressure, forcing Cleveland’s pitching staff to work deep counts and burn through pitches at an alarming rate.
Then Mayo took over.
Mayo launched a solo home run off Cantillo in the third inning, crushing a projected 426-foot shot and giving Baltimore some needed breathing room. The homer was Mayo’s 16th of the season against left-handed pitching, the most in Major League Baseball, and moved him closer to Gary Roenicke’s Orioles record of 18 homers against left-handers in a season. Mayo has developed into one of Baltimore’s most dangerous weapons against southpaws, and Monday offered another example of just how much damage he can create when he gets a pitch to drive.
Cleveland’s inability to throw strikes continued hurting the Guardians later in the third. With the bases loaded, Blaze Alexander worked an 11-pitch walk from Franco Aleman to force home another run, and Pete Alonso followed with another bases-loaded walk. Baltimore suddenly held a 4-0 advantage despite collecting only a handful of hits, with the Orioles forcing Cleveland pitchers to consistently work from behind in counts.
Cantillo lasted only 2 1/3 innings, allowing three hits while walking five and hitting two batters. Cantillo and Aleman combined to throw an incredible 102 pitches through Baltimore’s first three innings, only two fewer than Rogers needed to record 22 outs. Cantillo also increased his season walk total to 77, tied for the Major League lead.
While Cleveland’s pitchers labored, Rogers was doing precisely the opposite.
Rogers allowed Steven Kwan to open the game with a single, but Baltimore quickly erased Kwan with a double play. From there, Rogers completely controlled Cleveland’s lineup, retiring 16 consecutive batters and keeping the Guardians off balance with efficient pitching. Rogers ultimately retired 20 of the first 26 Cleveland hitters he faced and worked deeper into the game than he had at any other point this season.
Cleveland finally broke through with two outs in the sixth inning. The Guardians collected three consecutive hits against Rogers, culminating with Jo Adell dropping an RBI double into shallow right field that barely stayed fair. Cleveland trimmed Baltimore’s advantage to 4-1, but Rogers avoided additional damage and prevented the inning from turning into the type of momentum-changing rally that has hurt the Orioles too many times this season.
Baltimore answered almost immediately, and once again Mayo provided the power.
Mayo connected against right-hander Slade Cecconi in the bottom of the sixth and crushed a two-run home run an estimated 411 feet. The blast extended Baltimore’s advantage to 6-1 and gave Mayo his first multi-homer game in his 218-game Major League career. Mayo finished the afternoon with 21 home runs on the season, providing a glimpse of the middle-of-the-order power Baltimore hopes will become a fixture in its lineup for years to come.
Rogers continued pitching into the eighth before finally exiting after 7 1/3 innings. The left-hander allowed only one run on six hits while striking out six, improving to 10-9. It was exactly the kind of performance Baltimore needed from a starting pitcher after a brutal week, allowing the Orioles to protect their bullpen while pitching with a lead for much of the afternoon.
The Orioles made things far more interesting than necessary in the ninth.
Andrew Kittredge entered with Baltimore holding a comfortable five-run advantage, but Cleveland refused to disappear. Pinch-hitter Nathaniel Lowe launched a three-run home run off Kittredge, suddenly cutting the Orioles’ lead to 6-4 and putting some late pressure on a Baltimore team desperately trying to finish off its first victory in more than a week. Instead of allowing another late collapse to develop, Baltimore turned to Josh Walker for the final out.
Walker retired Patrick Bailey on a fly ball to right field to end the game and record the first save of his Major League career. It was not how Baltimore would have preferred to finish a game it had controlled for most of the afternoon, but after six consecutive losses, style points did not matter. The Orioles needed a win, and Walker made certain they finally got one.
The victory was particularly important because Baltimore entered Monday with little room remaining for mistakes. MLB reported that the Orioles entered the series four games behind the final AL Wild Card spot with only 18 games remaining and a FanGraphs postseason probability of just 2.8 percent. Monday’s victory moved Baltimore three games behind Cleveland and ensured that the Orioles at least remained within striking distance entering the final weeks of the season.
Baltimore also has an opportunity to make the race much more interesting over the remainder of this series. Cleveland currently leads the season series 3-2, meaning an Orioles sweep could potentially give Baltimore an important head-to-head tiebreaker while simultaneously taking two additional games directly from a club it is chasing. With Toronto and Texas also involved in the Wild Card picture, every game carries significant consequences.
Perhaps the biggest positive Monday was seeing Baltimore receive contributions from the areas it needs most down the stretch. Rogers pitched like a legitimate front-line starter, Mayo supplied middle-of-the-order power and the offense showed enough patience to punish Cleveland’s command problems. Baltimore drew seven walks, all within the first three innings, which represented a much more disciplined offensive approach than the one that struggled so badly throughout the Boston series.
Mayo’s afternoon deserves particular attention. The 24-year-old has now reached 21 home runs and showed that his production against left-handed pitching is not merely a short-term trend. With 16 homers against southpaws this season, Mayo has become arguably one of baseball’s most dangerous right-handed power threats when facing left-handed pitching.
For Rogers, the performance continued what has become an important season in Baltimore’s rotation. Throwing a season-high 7 1/3 innings during a game the Orioles desperately needed demonstrated both his efficiency and his ability to pitch under pressure. Baltimore cannot afford many short starts during the remainder of September, particularly if the club intends to make any meaningful push toward the postseason, and Rogers gave the Orioles exactly what they needed Monday.
The Orioles will try to make it two straight Tuesday night at Camden Yards. Brandon Young, who enters the game 9-3, is scheduled to start for Baltimore against Cleveland right-hander Tanner Bibee, who is 5-15. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. as Baltimore attempts to win the series and pull another game closer to Cleveland.
MSB Take
This is what makes the Orioles so frustrating. Baltimore looked completely lifeless against Boston, scored one run over the final three games of that series and appeared to be watching whatever remained of its postseason hopes disappear. Then the Orioles come home, face one of the teams they are directly chasing, get 7 1/3 dominant innings from Trevor Rogers and suddenly look like a team capable of making September interesting again.
Coby Mayo was the biggest difference offensively, and Baltimore needs to keep allowing him to become one of the faces of this lineup. Two home runs, 21 on the season and 16 against left-handed pitching are not numbers that can be ignored. Mayo possesses legitimate power, and games like Monday show why his bat can be an enormous part of whatever the Orioles are building going forward.
The ninth inning remains concerning because a 6-1 game should not suddenly become a save situation. Kittredge allowing a three-run homer created unnecessary stress and again showed why Baltimore’s bullpen cannot be taken for granted. Walker deserves credit for coming in and getting the final out, especially with it producing the first Major League save of his career.
Most importantly, Baltimore finally won. At 70-75, there is still almost no margin for error, and the Orioles have dug themselves a massive hole with only a few weeks remaining. But Cleveland is now only three games ahead, Baltimore gets two more direct shots at the Guardians and stranger things have happened in September.
If the Orioles want anyone to believe there is still a legitimate Wild Card run coming, Monday cannot be an isolated good game. They need to win this series, preferably sweep it, and then start stacking wins immediately. Rogers and Mayo gave Baltimore exactly the kind of performance it needed to stop the bleeding; now the Orioles have to prove they can build on it.
