Mullins’ 5 hits propel Orioles in 11 innings
Baltimore finishes sweep in Toronto
Cedric Mullins got five hits, Austin Hays drove in the decisive run in the 11th inning, and the Baltimore Orioles beat the host Toronto Blue Jays 8-3 Sunday to complete a three-game sweep.
Mullins had three RBIs and Hays reached base four times for the Orioles, who scored five runs in the 11th to win for the fifth time in six games and secure their third sweep of 2023.
“This was huge,” Mullins said. “We had a couple of battles in this series and we were able to come out on top. It’s a huge confidence boost going into New York.”
It was Baltimore’s first threegame sweep in Toronto since April 2005. The Orioles hadn’t swept an American League East opponent in a three-game series since doing it at Boston in early April 2021.
“The AL East is a difficult division,” Mullins said. “For us to pull a sweep off today just kind of shows where we are as a team.”
Mullins singled, stole second and scored in the third. He singled in the fifth and doubled in the seventh. He hit an RBI single in the 10th and then drove in two runs with a double in the 11th.
“He’s just playing an unbelievable brand of baseball right now, on both sides,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said.
Baltimore took a 3-2 lead in the top of the 10th when Mullins hit a first-pitch single off Nate Pearson to score automatic runner Jorge Mateo from second base.
Toronto tied it in the bottom half against Austin Voth when Whit Merrifield’s single brought home pinch-runner Daulton Varsho.
Right-hander Mike Baumann (3-0) replaced Voth and immediately picked off Merrifield at first base.
Hays broke the tie with a one-out single off Yimi Garcia (1-2) in the 11th, and pinch-hitter Terrin Vavra added a two-run single for the Orioles.
Backup catcher Riley Adams had a careerhigh four hits and finished a triple short of the cycle as Washington tied its season high with 18 hits in a home victory.
Adams homered, singled and
Nationals 6, Tigers 4:
doubled in his first three at-bats, then hit a bloop double in the seventh. Ildemaro Vargas hit his first home run since last Aug. 28, and Jeimer Candelario had four singles.
Washington starter Josiah Gray (4-5) allowed one run and three hits over five innings but matched his career high with six walks.
Hunter Harvey pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his second save.
Nick Maton had a homer and a single for the Tigers, who fell behind 6-1 in the third inning. Detroit went 3 for 16 with runners in scoring position, stranding 11 runners.
Saturday Orioles 6, Blue Jays 5, 10 innings:
Ryan Mountcastle scored the go-ahead run in the 10th inning when third baseman Matt Chapman’s throw hit him in the back on Austin Hays’ grounder, and Baltimore became the second MLB team to reach 30 wins.
Baltimore’s Ryan O’Hearn tied his career high with four RBIs, including a three-run homer in the eighth off Jordan Romano that tied the score at 5. Cedric Mullins hit a solo homer as the Orioles won for the fourth time in five games.
George Springer hit a two-run home run and Danny Jansen hit a solo homer for the Blue Jays, but winner Félix Bautista (3-1) pitched the last two innings and struck out his final four batters.
Nationals 5, Tigers 2: Patrick Corbin won consecutive starts for the first time since last summer, and Lane Thomas had a go-ahead, two-run single in the fifth inning that stopped Washington’s fourgame losing streak.
Corbin (3-5) allowed two runs and six hits in six innings against the Tigers, the only MLB team he had never faced. He struck out three, reaching 1,500 in his career when he fanned Jonathan Scoop in the sixth.
Carl Edwards Jr., Hunter Harvey and Kyle Finnegan finished with hitless relief, with Finnegan getting his ninth save in 11 chances to finish a game that took 2 hours, 3 minutes.
Jeimer Candelario homered and hit a run-scoring double for Washington, which fell behind when Spencer Torkelson hit a two-run homer in the first.
Losing pitcher Alex Faedo (0-2) gave up three runs and five hits in five innings.