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Yennier Cano’s trademark stare ended the eighth inning. It also brought an end to the Detroit Tigers’ final scoring chance Sunday.
A day after the Orioles’ pitching staff covered two games, their bullpen delivered 4 1/3 scoreless innings in a 5-3 victory over the Detroit Tigers, with Cano recording the final four outs in order to earn his second save with closer Félix Bautista unavailable because of usage.
“Our bullpen won us the game today,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “That’s what we did last year honestly, too, is bullpen keeping the score tight, keeping the score there or holding on a lead, and really happy with how they’ve thrown the ball.”
The Orioles have won six straight series, completing the winningest April in franchise history at 19-9; this time last year, they were 7-14 and wouldn’t earn their 19th victory until the season’s 46th game. They soon after took off, ending the year as the best American League team to miss the postseason. They’ll enter May with the AL’s second-best record.
“There’s a great energy in our clubhouse, in our dugout,” Hyde said. “There is when you win and when you win series and you’re playing the way we are. Super supportive, and sprinklers are out, and we’re spitting water and doing all sorts of waterwork type of activities, and we’re having a lot of fun with it.
“It’s hard to win series in the big leagues, and we’re doing a great job of that right now.”
They scored single runs each inning from the second through fifth, getting an RBI single from Ryan O’Hearn, back-to-back doubles from Adley Rutschman and Ryan Mountcastle, a home run from Adam Frazier, and a sacrifice fly from Austin Hays. But after four scoreless innings, right-hander Kyle Bradish nearly gave all those runs back in the fifth.
Jake Rogers’ two-run home run ended the shutout, but Bradish responded with consecutive outs. However, Javier Báez doubled home Riley Greene, who singled, before Bradish hit Spencer Torkelson with a pitch to end his outing. Bradish said he and Rutschman, the Orioles’ catcher, emphasized his slider early before wanting to use his four-seam and two-seam fastballs more in the middle innings, but Bradish was having trouble locating the pitches.
“I think I threw the ball well for that first four innings, but it’s kind of tough to overlook that fifth inning,” Bradish said.
Left-hander Cionel Pérez, a key reliever for the 2022 Orioles who has struggled to open the year, stranded both runners he inherited from Bradish by striking out Nick Maton, with third base umpire Edwin Moscoso questionably ruling that Maton swung on a two-strike check-swing attempt.
Austin Voth worked two scoreless frames before a leadoff walk in the eighth ended his day. Entering spring training, Voth was among the Orioles’ rotation candidates after pitching well as a starter last year. But after landing in the bullpen, he gave up home runs in each of his first five outings this year. In his past four appearances, Voth has pitched 6 2/3 innings, allowing one run on two hits and two walks, while striking out seven.
“Throwing the curveball more, kind of back to the pitcher that he was as a starter, and it was literally like one or two pitches an appearance early that would end up, unfortunately, being a homer,” Hyde said. “But I think the last few appearances, he’s shown the kind of pitcher he can be and how valuable he can be for us.”
With back-to-back lefties due up for the Tigers, Hyde brought in left-hander Danny Coulombe, but Detroit sent up right-handed pinch-hitters for both. Coulombe struck out the first but allowed a single to the second. He came back to strike out right-hander Matt Vierling on a borderline full-count pitch for the inning’s second out.
With Bautista pitching three of the previous four days, Cano was called upon to strand two runners, striking out Rogers and standing with his legs wide apart on the mound.
After Jorge Mateo provided an insurance run with a home run in the top of the ninth, Cano retired the side in order in the bottom half. Opposing hitters are 0-for-32 with a hit-by-pitch against Cano, who has rapidly emerged as Baltimore’s top setup man.
“Can’t even describe it,” Hyde said. “Has anybody ever seen that? Nope. So it’s [indescribable].”
Orioles option Ortiz, bring back Stowers
Hyde was clear the promotion of infielder Joey Ortiz for this series came without a promise of longevity. The Orioles were set to face three left-handed starters to open the series; Ortiz is a right-hander infielder, and they would make any decisions from there. Sunday, with Detroit’s run of lefties complete, Baltimore optioned Ortiz to Triple-A Norfolk and recalled outfielder Kyle Stowers, who excelled with the Tides after he was optioned in early April to get consistent playing time.
In 17 Triple-A games, Stowers hit .293/.427/.569 with five home runs. With Anthony Santander getting a day off, Stowers made his second start for the Orioles this year as their cleanup hitter.
“I think obviously reps are key, so it was good to get back to playing every day and just kind of getting in a rhythm,” Stowers said. “Obviously, hopefully, I can continue to build off of what was going on down there.”
Stowers went 1-for-4 with an eighth-inning single.
“Whenever you send a guy down, you want to make sure they’re not going down with a pessimistic attitude or disgruntled, but kind of a little bit of a fire to get back up, and he did that,” Hyde said.
Ortiz went 2-for-8 across three games, driving in three runs Thursday to tie the franchise record for RBIs in a major league debut. He also impressed with his defense and ability to hit the ball hard.
“He played a great brand of baseball,” Hyde said. “I loved how he played, loved the at-bats he took. Had some huge hits for us. The defense was outstanding. The double play turn that we didn’t get, just how fast, that was probably the fastest I’ve seen this year. But he showed extremely well. I’m sure he’ll be back up here at some point, but it was fun to watch him the last couple days.”
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