Orioles ride outstanding defense and 2 big pinch hits to comeback win over Rays

Taylor Walls’ bunt wasn’t the best, but it still required flawless execution from right-hander Rico Garcia and catcher Carlos Narváez. They managed flawless.

Before the Orioles could walk this game off in the bottom of the 10th, Garcia had to scamper off the mound to field Walls’ squeeze bunt attempt to score ghost runner Richie Palacios from third in the 10th inning. Garcia barehanded the ball and flipped it to Narváez, who applied the tag to cut down the Tampa Bay Rays’ attempt to go ahead in extra innings.

That’s what enabled Dylan Beavers’ moment of heroics in the bottom half. With his drive over the right fielder’s head against right-hander Bryan Baker, Leody Taveras scored from second base and Baltimore’s dugout spilled out in celebration.

The combination of plays enabled the Orioles to beat the Rays, 3-2, to seal a series win before Sunday’s matinee.

This hasn’t been a smooth ride of a season, but the energy in the clubhouse after this one was loose. The Orioles were having fun. Taveras and Colton Cowser tried to make their teammates laugh during media interviews. The players chattered about their matching stirrup socks, which they all wore in a “spur of the moment” decision, Gunnar Henderson said, after watching Tyler O’Neill put them on shortly before pregame.

“You guys might’ve noticed, the pants were a little tight on me,” Samuel Basallo said through team interpreter Brandon Quinones. He borrowed socks from Kyle Bradish when he noticed everyone else putting them on. The pants were borrowed, too, but from whom he doesn’t know.

“If the team wants to do it again tomorrow, we’ll do it,” Basallo said.

And, long after the final out and Gatorade bath for Beavers, a gaggle of guys, including Pete Alonso, Brandon Young and Garcia, sat together in the dugout, looking out on a quiet Camden Yards, just enjoying each other’s company.

“It’s definitely really meaningful this year with this group of guys,” Beavers said of his fourth-career walk-off hit, “because we’ve faced a good bit of adversity and I think we all have belief that we can have success. So just trying to build momentum and go on a run here.”

Manager Craig Albernaz turned to Beavers, fresh off three straight games with a home run, as a pinch hitter to start the 10th. His subsequent hit almost left the ballpark. He’ll settle for what counts as a walk-off double, however. And, for the Orioles, their late-starting offense has two pinch hitters to thank.

As Basallo walked to the plate to pinch hit in the eighth inning, Rays pitching coach Kyle Snyder called time, then ran to the mound to talk over strategy with right-hander Kevin Kelly.

It’s fair to assume the plan was not to fall behind, two balls to no strikes, which then forced Kelly to come into the strike zone with a low-and-inside sinker.

“With Sammy, anything that’s remotely close to the plate is a hot spot,” Albernaz said. “I would say, yeah, down and in to a lefty is usually their honey hole and bright red.”

Basallo clubbed that pitch high and long, way out to center field, for a game-tying, two-run home run — the first pinch-hit homer of Basallo’s career.

It couldn’t have come at a better time, sending the game to extras. And, with another pinch-hit decision working in Baltimore’s favor, the Orioles have now won eight of their last nine games against Tampa Bay.

“It felt really good being able to come back from the injury and being able to help the team right there — being able to help the team get that win right there made it feel even better,” Basallo said.

It wasn’t just Garcia with a key defensive play. O’Neill made two of his own. Young and right-hander Andrew Kittredge benefited from the highlight-reel efforts.

In the sixth, when Young later allowed Junior Caminero’s RBI single that created a 2-0 lead for the Rays, O’Neill showed off his arm by firing a strike to third base. Walls attempted to run from first to third on Yandy Díaz’s single, but O’Neill’s throw ensured the sixth inning didn’t get out of hand for the Orioles.

And in the ninth, with the go-ahead run on second base, O’Neill did it again. Palacios lifted a shallow fly ball into right field. With a full dive, O’Neill stole a bloop hit for the third out, which prevented that critical run from scoring.

“T.O. had a great game in the outfield,” Albernaz said.

Young almost completed six innings despite struggling with his command, but Caminero drove a two-out RBI single that chased the right-hander from the game. And, while this wasn’t the crispest Young has looked this year, given his three walks and 37% in-zone pitch rate, he did enough. He simply didn’t have run support while he was on the mound.

In a season full of these up-and-down performances, the difference between Friday’s offense and Saturday’s fit the mold. In the series opener, Alonso drove in three runs, including a two-run homer, and Baltimore continued a strong stretch against the Rays. But on Saturday the Orioles were missing the breakthrough knock until late, when Basallo homered.

They threatened. In the first inning against left-hander Shane McClanahan, Alonso extended his career-long hitting streak to 14 games and Coby Mayo doubled. But O’Neill flied out too shallowly in left for Alonso to score on a sacrifice fly, and Henderson struck out to strand the pair in scoring position.

In the third, Alonso and Mayo combined again with hits to put two runners in scoring position for O’Neill, who wound up flying out to end the threat.

By that point, Young had found his footing. Following Liam Hicks’ solo homer and Jonny DeLuca’s single in the second, he retired 10 batters in a row before issuing a walk to Cedric Mullins — and Narváez wiped out Mullins by throwing a dart to second on his steal attempt.

“Thought I made pitches later on in the game and started getting ahead,” said Young, who also faced Tampa Bay last week. “I wasn’t really getting ahead with first-pitch strikes early on but made pitches when I needed to. I thought it was definitely better than last. This is a great lineup and facing them back-to-back isn’t easy, but I thought I did a good job.”

It was enough to keep the game close, which allowed Basallo and Beavers to come through. And with three key defensive gems — two from O’Neill and one from Garcia — the Orioles walked off as winners.

This article has been updated.