Shawn Armstrong experienced both sides of the Orioles’ futility in 2021.
As one of many relievers Baltimore cycled through during its rebuild, Armstrong spent the first two months of the season pitching out of the Orioles’ bullpen as he had the previous two years. In early June, the Orioles designated Armstrong for assignment, and a couple months later, he was pitching for the American League-best Tampa Bay Rays after a trade.
The Orioles went 1-18 against the Rays that season, one of many unforgettable facts from a 2021 campaign in which Baltimore lost 110 contests and endured losing streaks of 14 and 19 games. That year, Armstrong lived the Orioles’ rebuild and then witnessed it from across the diamond. He had the same view this weekend, but the gap between the Rays and Orioles has since vanished.
“They’re extremely hungry. They want to win. They don’t care about the ratings or the projections or any of that nonsense,” Armstrong said. “They’re proving they’re a good ball team. It’s exciting whenever they do come to town or we go to their town, because we know we’re going to be up for a battle. It’s a lot of fun to see, because I was on the other side of things when we lost 18 out of 19 games to the Rays. It’s great for baseball, it’s great for the town and it’s great for everybody in that clubhouse.”
The Orioles took three of four this weekend from the Rays, entering Tropicana Field on Thursday in a tie for first place atop the AL East and leaving Sunday with a two-game lead. No team in the American League has a better record than Baltimore’s 61-38 mark.
Replacing the countless unfun facts from the rebuild are achievements these Orioles are racking up. They’re one victory away from winning their first season series over the Rays since 2016. They won three games in a series at Tampa Bay for the first time since 2014. They won a four-game series at Tropicana Field for the first time since 2006.
Armstrong isn’t surprised how quickly the Orioles went from one of MLB’s worst teams to one of its best.
“I think it’s awesome,” the 32-year-old right-hander said of the Orioles’ turnaround. “I’ll never root against them, except obviously when they’re on the other side of the field. Aside from this team, that’s where I spent the vast majority of my big league career was in Baltimore. It’ll always hold a special place for me. Being a part of their rebuild process, they’ve done a really good job of drafting, doing trades, rebuilding the farm system.”
Armstrong’s complimentary sentiments aren’t just because he used to play for Baltimore. Many of his teammates are also impressed with the post-rebuild Orioles.
“I think it’s great for baseball,” Rays starting pitcher Zach Eflin said a day after he handed the Orioles their lone loss of the series Friday. “I love watching the Orioles play. They’re a young group of guys that are extremely talented. They play hard, they play together. You can tell how close they are as a team. It reminds me a lot of us. It’s going to be a battle between us for a long time to come.”
Rays slugger Luke Raley also isn’t surprised, but that’s because he witnessed the rebuild in action last season in Durham, Tampa Bay’s Triple-A team, where he played against Gunnar Henderson, now one of Baltimore’s top players, and prospects Colton Cowser and Jordan Westburg.
“They’ve got some really talented young players,” he said.
After Thursday’s win, manager Brandon Hyde remarked how it was the type of game his club would’ve lost during the rebuild. The difference now, he said, is that he has closer Félix Bautista headlining a mostly effective bullpen. He also has right-hander Kyle Gibson, a veteran starter helping lead a mostly reliable rotation.
Rays closer Pete Fairbanks also sees the Orioles’ pitching staff as their greatest improvement.
“I think in 2021 when we won 18 games against them, there were definitely some games that they shot themselves in the foot — repetitively,” Fairbanks said. “It’s always been a talented bunch with the lineup, but I don’t think they were finishing when they had the ability to. Now that they’ve added some pitching guys and kind of had some emergence on the back end [of the bullpen] and the rotation is solidified, that’s the biggest difference that I’ve noticed.
“To win and to win frequently is something that kind of builds on itself. I think they’ve done a good job of doing that and building that confidence that it takes to win over and over again in a beast of a division.”
As the manager of an organization regarded as one of the sport’s best at developing talent, Kevin Cash appreciates the Orioles’ successful rebuild. He also recognizes the similarities between his club and its new AL East competitor — both driven by youth, athleticism and castoffs turned key contributors.
“They’ve done a good job of developing talent, acquiring talent through trades or whatnot,” Cash said. “Getting [Yennier] Cano over here and the starting pitching that they’ve gotten from [Kyle] Bradish and [Dean] Kremer coming up, [Tyler] Wells, transitioning him from bullpen to starter and then signing a guy like Gibson. Their pitching has gotten a lot better. That’s what stands out. They’ve got a lot of athleticism with some young drafted prospects that are now turning into big leaguers, but the pitching is just a lot better.”
The Orioles had arrived long before this series. They’ve been one of the best teams in the sport since Adley Rutschman made his MLB debut last May — winning 10 straight in July, competing for a wild-card spot down the stretch, sending four players to this year’s All-Star Game and now jostling with the Rays for AL East supremacy.
But this weekend was further confirmation that the Orioles are here to stay.
“I think every single player in the league knew the Orioles were going to be a good team this year and not to take them lightly, and they’ve kind of proven that,” Rays second baseman Brandon Lowe said. “They’re no longer rebuilding.”
A brief AL East reprieve before seven straight divisional games.
The Orioles, winners of 11 of their past 14, will look to stay hot during a three-game series at Philadelphia. The defending National League-champion Phillies, who went 2-4 last week, are tied for second in the National League East at 53-46. Kremer, Gibson and Bradish start for the Orioles, with Gibson’s start marking his first in the City of Brotherly Love since signing with Baltimore after playing a year and a half for the Phillies.
After a day off Thursday, the Orioles return to Camden Yards for a three-game series against the fourth-place New York Yankees (53-47) — their last series against one another this season. Baltimore is 5-5 against New York and a division-best 19-12 against AL East foes. The series ends with a primetime game on ESPN’s “Sunday Night Baseball,” the first time since 2018 the Orioles have hosted.
The skipper.
All four games against the Rays were decided by three or fewer runs, and Hyde pushed the right buttons on far more occasions than not. On Thursday, he played small ball despite being the road team in an extra-inning game, leading to a run in the 10th and a win after Félix Bautista slammed the door shut. On Saturday, after a risky decision to pitch newcomer Shintaro Fujinami in a high-leverage spot, his decisions led to the winning run in the ninth, with both of his pinch-hitters sandwiching singles between a James McCann bunt. On Sunday, he pulled Tyler Wells early in favor of Mike Baumann, who pitched 2 2/3 scoreless innings, and he left Ryan O’Hearn in for a rare at-bat against a left-hander and was rewarded when O’Hearn hit a go-ahead home run.
The newest member of Baltimore’s bullpen.
Fujinami flashed the plus stuff that made him a tantalizing prospect in Japan and an intriguing addition ahead of the deadline, but he gave up a solo home run in his Orioles debut Friday and lost his command in Saturday’s loss. Of his 36 pitches between the two outings, he threw 15 strikes and 21 balls. Between the two outings, the right-hander allowed two hits, two walks and three runs in 1 2/3 innings.
Tyler Wells (eight runs in 6 1/3 innings) and Austin Hays (3-for-24) also struggled, but Wells was the Orioles’ best starting pitcher in the first half and Hays was their most consistent hitter.
Top prospect Jackson Holliday hit his first Double-A home run Saturday, blasting a solo shot to center field in the seventh inning of Bowie’s win.
The long ball was Holliday’s eighth of the season in 80 games. Between Low-A Delmarva, High-A Aberdeen and Bowie, the 19-year-old is slashing .333/.459/.522 — good for a .981 OPS. Holliday, the sport’s top prospect according to Baseball America, also has 20 stolen bases and 53 RBIs.
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