‘A lot of relief’: Orioles snap their 19-game skid
BALTIMORE — The most downtrodden baseball team on the planet faced the game’s most transcendent star Wednesday night, a stage ostensibly designed to showcase Shohei Ohtani’s singular greatness.
Instead, it served as a platform to remind us the many ways this absurd sport can startle us all.
The Baltimore Orioles were just a few minutes from their 20th consecutive loss, putting them shoulder-toshoulder with their 1988 brethren who lost an American League record 21 straight, when a terrible Los Angeles Angels bullpen interceded on their behalf.
Or perhaps it was the sage. After 19 straight losses, the longest skid in the majors since 2005, Orioles catcher Austin Wynns arranged overnight delivery of the sacred herb to Camden Yards, where he and veteran Trey Mancini jolted their teammates and manager Brandon Hyde out of their pregame routines by spreading its pungent aroma.
“He and I walked around the ballpark,” Mancini said of Wynns, “and saged everything we could. Took a good 15 minutes to walk around and made sure we took our time and did it right. “And it worked.”
A club that was outscored 180-64 the previous 19 games instead saw an Angels bullpen fold in a manner that looked far too familiar to these bedraggled Orioles, who rallied for six runs in the seventh and eighth innings to avoid the record books and record a 10-6 victory over Ohtani’s Angels, their first since an Aug. 2 triumph at Yankee Stadium.
Turns out that Wednesday’s boisterous crowd lured out by Ohtani – the 15,867 fans was the Orioles’ largest weeknight home draw of the year and nearly double the 8,700 at Camden Yards a night earlier– instead found itself at an exorcism.
Ohtani had never given up multiple home runs in a game – but the Orioles slammed three off him. They still found themselves in a 6-2 hole entering the bottom of the fourth.
Enter the supernatural.
Not until the streak reached double digits did things get weird in the nether reaches of Camden Yards. Center fielder Cedric Mullins decided to shave his beard.
The typically clean-shaven Mancini was shaving himself one day when he abruptly stopped.
“I hate having a mustache,” says Mancini, “so as a form of self-punishment but also to keep things lighter, I told all the guys I’d shave it off when we won.”
And then Mancini took action. Trailing 6-5, Mancini led off the eighth with a solid single and then Angels relievers Jake Petricka – making his first major league appearance since 2019 – and James Hoyt aided and abetted the cause.
Hoyt gave up a double to Anthony Santander, an intentional walk to DJ Stewart and then walked light-hitting shortstop Ramon Urias to force in the tying run.
Hoyt walked Kelvin Gutierrez – batting .206 coming in – to force in the goahead run.
When pinch hitter Austin Hays narrowly missed a grand slam and pushed home two huge insurance runs with a double to the left field wall, the crowd erupted.
It rose to its feet for the final out and when Anthony Santander hauled in a fly to right to end it, Mancini raised his arms in exultation.
Hugs abounded throughout the diamond.