Orioles win 4th straight, blast Astros, 9-5, behind Austin Hays’ two-homer game: ‘We’re clicking right now’ – Beragampengetahuan

HOUSTON — No player in the major leagues is more familiar with Camden Yards’ unnatural left field wall than Austin Hays.

Playing at a stadium with a different — but also strange — one Tuesday, Hays took advantage of Minute Maid Park’s shorter left field, blasting two home runs and leading the Orioles to a 9-5 victory.

Baltimore’s bats combined for 10 hits and four homers for the club’s fourth straight win — a streak that follows its four-game skid last week — to drop the Orioles’ magic number to win the American League East to eight.

“I feel like we’re clicking right now,” the left fielder said.

Hays’ first homer — a three-run shot in the third to give Baltimore a lead it wouldn’t relinquish — easily cleared the short porch in left field. It wouldn’t have been gone at 14 MLB stadiums, including Camden Yards, which altered its dimensions last season by moving the left field wall back almost 30 feet and increasing its height by 5 feet.

“I crushed that ball the other day at home, and I felt like that was all I had, couldn’t have hit it any better,” said Hays, referencing a 372-foot flyout Saturday that didn’t even reach the warning track at Camden Yards but would’ve been out at the majority of big league parks. “And then today I got jammed a little bit on that ball and hit it 95 [mph] and it goes five rows deep. It’s a great feeling to see a ball go over the wall in left field.”

His second, though, needn’t worry about where it was hit. The 422-foot solo shot to left-center field in the seventh was a no-doubter, whether it was hit in Houston, Baltimore or any other MLB city.

Hays’ homers, as well as a two-run blast from No. 3 hitter Ryan O’Hearn in the first and a solo shot from rookie Heston Kjerstad in the seventh, helped build the Orioles a 9-5 lead. O’Hearn opened the game with two hits for seven in a row after his 5-for-5 game Monday, while Kjerstad’s homer was the second in just his 13th MLB at-bat. Kjerstad, a lefty, was jammed on an inside fastball and still hit it 337 feet into the first row of the left field stands at the only park in the majors where it would’ve left the yard.

Kyle Gibson was one out away from recording his 15th win, but the veteran was pulled with two outs in the fifth after allowing three runs. The bullpen, which stumbled Monday after Sunday’s draining win, bounced back Tuesday with 4 1/3 innings of one-run ball.

The highlight of the relief corps’ day was its newest member. Jack Flaherty, the starting pitcher the Orioles acquired at the deadline, was temporarily — and perhaps permanently — moved to the bullpen Tuesday with the unit taxed on the 12th day of a 17-game stretch without a day off. The right-hander has pitched poorly as a starter with the Orioles, but he tossed two scoreless innings to spare the bullpen.

“Jack Flaherty won us the game in a lot of ways,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “Being able to cover two innings like that, almost tried to get the third one out of him. We’re struggling a little bit in the pen, and for him to kind of come in and put two zeros up against a really good offense, that was huge for us.”

Yennier Cano recorded the first two outs of the ninth after Flaherty allowed a leadoff single, but with two runners on and the left-handed hitting Yordan Alvarez due up, manager Brandon Hyde called on southpaw Cionel Pérez. He handled the situation with aplomb, striking out Alvarez on three fastballs for his second save of the season.

Baltimore (95-56) remains 2 1/2 games ahead of the Tampa Bay Rays, who beat the Los Angeles Angels on Tuesday, for the best record in the AL. The win guaranteed the Orioles will have a better record than at least every AL team other than the Rays, meaning Baltimore will be the top seed in the AL playoffs if it wins the division and the No. 4 seed if it doesn’t.

Gibson’s mediocre outing was rare for the 35-year-old veteran, as he’s either recorded a quality start or allowed five or more runs in all but one of his previous 11 games. But Hyde said the right-hander “battled” as he scattered five hits and two walks against a daunting Astros lineup. Kyle Tucker tied the game in the first with a two-run homer, and Alex Bregman cut into the Orioles’ lead with a solo shot in the third.

In the sixth, James McCann laid down a perfect safety squeeze bunt — one of many elegant bunts from the 33-year-old catcher this year — to score Cedric Mullins, who stole two bases for the first time since opening day. Gunnar Henderson then drove in Adam Frazier, who walked twice, for the AL Rookie of the Year front-runner’s 80th RBI of the season.

Yainer Díaz homered off Jorge López, a September waiver claim who allowed two homers Sunday, in the sixth to put Houston (84-68) within two before Hays’ and Kjerstad’s homers doubled Baltimore’s advantage. But Flaherty stabilized the bullpen and kept the Astros’ hitters in check.

The right-hander entered with a 7.11 ERA in his seven starts since Baltimore traded three prospects Baseball America ranked as the Orioles’ Nos. 13, 15 and 16 prospects to the Cardinals for him. But he accepted his reassignment Tuesday and helped his new team win a pivotal game.

“Just give me the ball, see what happens,” Flaherty said of his reaction when Hyde told him he could pitch out of the bullpen in Houston. “It’s a good thing. If he wants to give you the ball in bigger spots like there, getting seven, eight and to start the ninth inning there, that shows some trust. It feels good.”

Hyde didn’t rule out Flaherty starting again this season, but given the Orioles’ rotation already had six members and only 11 games remain until the postseason, it’s possible the former National League Cy Young contender will pitch in the bullpen for the remainder of the year. The fifth-year manager was eager to see what the 27-year-old’s stuff would look like out of the bullpen. With a plus curveball and a fastball that can touch 97 mph, Flaherty would present Hyde an arm to go multiple innings as well as one to get right-handed batters out.

“I think I can help them in any way, whatever role that is,” Flaherty said. “Whenever I get a chance to get the ball, I’m looking forward to it. It’s nice to go out there and fill some innings in there and put up some zeros. Today was kind of a total team effort. Everybody played a part.”

Flaherty allowed a leadoff single in the ninth, leading Hyde to bring in Cano, pitching the closer for the third consecutive day. He did the same with Pérez later that inning. No Baltimore pitcher had thrown in three straight games before Tuesday.

“I feel like I had no choice right there,” Hyde said.

“There’s fatigue all around the league right now,” he added. “It’s the games we’re playing right now. It’s the end of the year, and we’re all sucking it up.”

• Outfielder Aaron Hicks, who exited Monday’s win with a hamstring cramp, said he isn’t concerned and would have been available off the bench Tuesday had he been called upon to play.
• Ryan Mountcastle is “a little better,” Hyde said before the game, as the first baseman continues to make his way back from left shoulder discomfort. He didn’t play Tuesday for the sixth straight game.
• Kyle Bradish is starting Wednesday and Grayson Rodriguez is being moved up one day to start in Flaherty’s spot Thursday against the Cleveland Guardians.
• Catching prospect Samuel Basallo was named the Carolina League Player of the Year on Tuesday. In his age-18 season, Basallo hit .299 with an .887 OPS in 83 games for Low-A Delmarva before his promotions to High-A Aberdeen and Double-A Bowie. Basallo is Baltimore’s No. 4 prospect, according to Baseball America.

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Originally Published: Sep 19, 2023 at 11:39 pm