Santander’s clutch home run moves Orioles closer to postseason

BALTIMORE- What happened? As Anthony Santander watched his long drive to right near the wall, he blew hard three times then turned to the dugout and began yelling.

“Keep going, please,” Santander said. “ I hit it high. I knew I hit it good on the barrel, but too high. I was hoping that the ball kept going. Thankfully, it did.”

The home run came with two outs in the bottom of a ninth of a 3-3 game. It set off an overdue celebration by the Orioles, who also exhaled after losing nine of 12 games and three in a row.

It was Santander’s 42^nd home run, but just his third in September. It was big.

“I was saying, ‘let’s go,’” he said. “I let them know, that’s who we are. We know that we have a lot of hits like that, a lot of walk-offs. That’s good energy, the energy we need for the next week.”

It was the third time Santander had ended a game with a home run, and the first time the Orioles had a game-ender since Adley Rutschman’s on May 15^th.

“I was hoping for a wind gust,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “I was yelling, ‘blow, blow, blow.’ The wind was doing weird kind of things that it normally doesn’t do here, like you saw in the top of the ninth. I didn’t know if he had enough of it or not. So that was definitely a hit we needed.”

The Orioles scored three runs in the fourth inning on a double by Rutschman and a two-out single by Jackson Holliday, who had a fine day defensively. Holliday snared Mike Yastrzemski’s liner in the fourth and turned two key double plays in the second and ninth.

The Orioles were clinging to a 3-2 lead in the ninth when Seranthony Domínguez walked his first two hitters. Casey Schmitt lined a ball toward right. Centerfielder Cedric Mullins and rightfielder Austin Slater collided, and the ball fell for an RBI single.

Mullins was examined by head athletic trainer Brian Ebel and remained in the game.

“Right away I thought it was a fly ball to Cedric and then the wind just kind of pushed it,” Hyde said. “Yeah, I need to look at it again. Those are two really, really good outfielders out there that, you know, tough play.”

How big was the win? The win reduces the Orioles’ magic number to 5 to clinch a postseason berth. The earliest they can clinch is Sunday.

“I thought it felt like the guys were doing everything they can to win this game today,” Hyde said. “Not that they haven’t been, but for me, this was a needed win and proud of our guys for how they competed today.”

It was Hyde’s 400^th win as Orioles manager.

“We needed it a lot,” Santander said. “We’ve been struggling, but like I said the other day, we need good momentum to the playoffs next week and that was a great win for us as a team, and also for the skipper, his 400^th win.”

Holliday said he thought Santander was going to win the game.

“I told [Ryan] O’Hearn that I thought he was going to hit a homer,” Holliday said. “I’ve seen it. I know kind of how he thinks and kind of his approach, and I thought he was going to hit a slider for a homer and, I mean, it was pretty amazing that he did. That guy has got pretty good stuff on the mound. So, it was awesome for him to kind of end it there.”

Holliday seems to be swinging better after Hyde started Liván Soto ahead of him four times since September 9^th.

“That was an unbelievable win,” Holliday said. “Obviously, we had some big hits and [Zach] Eflin threw the ball great and bullpen kind of shut them down. So, it was a good win to kind of build into these next two series that are probably really important.”

Eflin allowed two runs on six hits in six innings, walking one and striking out five. Had Domínguez not blown the save, Eflin would have had his fifth win with the Orioles.

“It feels huge. Honestly, I was in here celebrating it in the clubhouse,” he said. “Wish I was out there, but it was a total team win. I think any time Tony’s in a situation to win the ballgame we feel really good as a team.”

How does Hyde display patience? Before the game, Hyde acknowledged that he needed to show patience and try to remain calm during this difficult stretch.

“I think you try a little bit of everything at this point,” Hyde said. “I’m trying to stay patient and positive. It’s hard. It’s hard right now. You try to check in with players as much as you possibly can … Sometimes I don’t feel very positive.

“I try to be as positive as I can possibly can. I want the players to see that we believe in them and I believe in them, and we’re going to pull out of this and I think we’re a lot better team than how we’ve played the last couple of months, especially as of late.

“Our offense is way better than how we’re performing. We should be performing better. I was thinking today, ‘we had eight or nine guys that could have made the All-Star team.’ The second half has been rough for most of them. That’s just unfortunate. Nobody’s going to feel sorry for you and you’ve got to buckle up and try to perform and try to stick behind them as much as you possibly can.”

What does it mean? It’s been a long time since the Orioles had an exciting win, and it might provide the jumpstart the team has needed.

What’s the word? “Last year feels like a long time ago right now.” –Hyde  

What’s the stat of the day? 400. Hyde is the fifth manager in Orioles history with 400 wins. Earl Weaver (1,480), Buck Showalter (669), Paul Richards (517) and Hank Bauer (407) are the others.

What’s going on in the minor leagues? Reliever Danny Coulombe threw just eight pitches in his third rehab game for Triple-A Norfolk. He’s on the 60-day injured list after surgery to remove bone chips in his left elbow.

“We’re seeing how it feels today,” Hyde said. “He’ll go through all the pregame down at Norfolk, and then we’re going to make a decision on him. We just had him throw to three hitters last night. That was on purpose.”

Jordan Westburg went 1-for-4 with an RBI and Ramón Urías was 1-for-3 in their first rehab game  in Norfolk’s 8-4 win over Nashville. Westburg had a fractured right hand; Urías a sprained right ankle.

“They’re definitely going to need a couple of games, and then we’ll see how it goes,” Hyde said.

“Ramón’ s missed less time than Westy. Westy’s in great physical shape. It’s really about at-bats with Westy. With Ramón, it’s seeing how his ankle recovers. He’s doing great.

“Whether they come back together or one before the other, I would maybe assume Ramón might come before Westy. He might not need as many at-bats because Jordan’s missed almost the entire second half. We’ll see how their games go, but they’ll be there the next two nights there in Norfolk.;

Hyde is hoping that first baseman Ryan Mountcastle, who’s on the injured list with a sprained left wrist, will also go to Norfolk.

“I’m hoping he’s there by the end of this week, this weekend, so they might have a nice top of the order,” Hyde said.

What’s next? The Orioles will begin their final homestand of the regular season on Friday night against the Detroit Tigers. Corbin Burnes (14-8, 3.06) will start for the Orioles. The Tigers, who used Beau Brieske as an opener last Friday and Saturday, haven’t named their starter. The game will be seen exclusively on Apple TV+.

Call for questions: Most weekdays, I’ll be answering at least one Orioles question. Please send yours to: Rich@BaltimoreBaseball.com