Grayson Rodriguez learned a valuable lesson after his start last week.
Pitching against the lowly Kansas City Royals, Rodriguez had the worst outing of his nascent big league career, as a lineup with few recognizable major leaguers tagged the top prospect for eight hits and six runs in 3 2/3 innings.
“Really it doesn’t matter who you face, what their record is,” Rodriguez said. “They’re all big league hitters.”
Rodriguez didn’t have those same issues Tuesday.
Substitute the Royals for the MLB-best Tampa Bay Rays and the ineffective version of Rodriguez for a resolute version, as the right-hander battled through a career-high 5 2/3 solid innings to lead the Orioles to a 4-2 win over their division foe.
Rodriguez (2-0) wasn’t as dominant as he was in Detroit in late April or throughout his minor league career, but he also didn’t unravel in any inning as he did in most of his previous starts this season. The 23-year-old scattered seven hits, two walks and two solo home runs while striking out four and recording an out in the sixth inning for the first time in his big league career.
Relievers Mike Baumann, Yennier Cano and Félix Bautista followed Rodriguez and combined for 3 1/3 scoreless innings. Cano continued his remarkable start to the season with 1 2/3 scoreless innings; Bautista was shaky, but he pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings for his eighth save of the season. Orioles pitchers held the Rays to 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position.
One night after getting shut out in a 3-0 loss, the Orioles’ bats woke up, as Adley Rutschman’s two-run home run in the third inning propelled the offense and provided Baltimore’s pitching staff with enough support to end the club’s season-worst three-game losing streak.
The series against Tampa Bay (29-8) began as one between the two best teams in the American League, and it will remain that for the rubber match Wednesday. The Orioles (23-13) will go for the series win with Dean Kremer on the mound.
The Orioles entered Tuesday two for their last 31 with runners in scoring position. Their first three at-bats in such situations are why they won.
Gunnar Henderson led off the third inning with a triple, as his line drive got past a diving Manuel Margot in center field. Jorge Mateo then grounded out to score Henderson to break the Orioles’ streak of 13 innings without a run — and 19 frames without one if not including the automatic runner in extra innings on Sunday.
Cedric Mullins then doubled with two outs to bring up the Orioles’ coldest hitter. Rutschman was 0-for-19 going into his third-inning at-bat, and he took out his frustration on a cutter from Rays starter Zach Eflin, launching the pitch 407 feet over the right field wall and onto Eutaw Street. At 111.1 mph, the home run was the hardest-hit ball of Rutschman’s career, according to Statcast tracking data. The Eutaw Street home run was the 119th in Oriole Park history and 56th by an Oriole.
Baltimore’s third at-bat with runners in scoring position ended in an RBI single for Austin Hays, whose ground ball between third and short scored Ryan Mountcastle.
The Orioles had scored just six runs in their previous three games while facing a gantlet of starting pitchers. Eflin was the fifth straight pitcher the Orioles faced who owned a sub-3.00 ERA entering the game.
This story will be updated.
Rays at Orioles
Wednesday, 6:35 p.m.
TV: MASN
Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM
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