Teammates again for one out, Adley Rutschman and Bryan Baker soak in All-Star Game

PHILADELPHIA — They had allowed themselves to hope for this moment. When Bryan Baker and Adley Rutschman first saw each other during All-Star Week festivities, these two former teammates wondered: Could we run it back, just for old times’ sake?

The hug Baker and Rutschman shared on the mound after the final out of Tuesday’s All-Star Game, then, was a wish coming true. Baker, whom the Orioles traded away last year, is now the closer for the Tampa Bay Rays. Rutschman, Baltimore’s catcher, has caught Baker more than any other catcher in the right-hander’s major league career.

Meeting here as All-Stars was the happiest of surprises — a chance to reconnect, reminisce and embrace on the mound following a successful outing once more.

They were teammates again for one out in the ninth inning at Citizens Bank Park. They won’t forget it.

“I was kind of in the boat where I didn’t have an assigned inning, it was, ‘Get me in when you can,’” Baker said. “It just happened to work out that way, which was the perfect cherry on top for the week.”

“It’s so cool,” Rutschman added. “You never know with baseball, when guys go away, if you’re ever going to catch them again. You kind of take that moment for what it is. It’s just a special, special moment to be embraced. Love Bake. And to be able to catch him again is awesome.”

Baker spent most of four seasons with the Orioles before the Rays swooped in ahead of the trade deadline in 2025 to acquire him. Baker has since compiled the best season of his career, with a 1.73 ERA and 25 saves as Tampa Bay’s closer.

There are several tweaks that went into Baker’s blossoming, such as throwing his changeup more (and better) than ever. With the Orioles, he mostly used a four-seam fastball and slider mix, but the Rays quashed his slider (he’s using it only 4.2% of the time this year) and have gone all in on a nearly even fastball-changeup mix.

The biggest change, Baker said, is his in-zone aggressiveness. It fits with his on-field persona, which is completely different from Baker’s kind, jovial off-field personality.

“It’s almost like a gladiator match out there. I get very one-on-one with the hitter. It’s a matchup. So, I turn into a very different person,” Baker said with a laugh.

The Orioles saw that fire throughout his time in Baltimore, even when he came into low-leverage situations is a middle reliever. But as Tampa Bay’s closer, Baker has found that tapping into his fiery, competitive nature helps to lock into key moments.

“It’s been a seamless transition for me because I already want to feed off those big moments and adrenaline anyway, so just to use it to my advantage,” Baker said. “I think the closer role, it’s easier, because it’s kind of life and death already. The situation is right in front of you. You get these three outs and secure the win or not, and it’s different when you come into the fifth inning or whatever it may be.”

Doing it at Tropicana Field is meaningful, too. Baker was born and raised in Fort Walton Beach, a town far west on the panhandle of Florida. It’s seven hours from Tampa, but the Rays were on television and Tropicana Field played host to some youth tournaments he played in.

Baker recently shared a photograph on Instagram of him and his dad at Tropicana Field. To return there now as the closer?

“It’s surreal, man. It’s pretty wild. It still hasn’t fully set in, to be honest, that I get to work there every day,” he said. “My main team I got to watch was the Rays. Getting to be a Ray now, getting to work there, it’s a pretty full-circle moment.”

It also felt right that Baker and Rutschman were battery mates once more. Baker entered with two outs in the ninth inning, and while Rutschman met with other pitchers at the mound to discuss their arsenal and attack plans, the mound visit when Baker entered was brief.

“He knows exactly how to catch me,” Baker said.

Otto Lopez hit a single off Baker to extend the game, then Sal Stewart chopped a comebacker to Baker, who threw to first base for the final out of the Midsummer Classic. That’s when Baker and Rutschman walked toward each other, high-fived and hugged.

They patted each other on the backs, then put their arms around each other and said what was on their minds.

“We were both saying how much we miss each other and how fun it is to get to work with each other,” Baker said. “I said, ‘This could possibly be my last All-Star Game.’ He’s probably going to come to a lot more, so I’m really going to enjoy this one.”

And then?

“And then we were also talking hypotheticals of being teammates again,” Baker said.

At the very least, they’ll settle for being teammates for one out in the ninth inning here. There are worse places to be together again.