Orioles bounce back to beat Tigers behind Burnes, Henderson

DETROIT — Zach Eflin wasn’t panicked after one of the Orioles’ worst games of the season Friday night.

Instead of catastrophizing about the state of the club, he stuck with the certainties that baseball — and the universe — provide.

“Sun’s going to come up tomorrow, and we’re going to be prepared for it,” the veteran pitcher said calmly.

Even more important than that star 93 million miles away, Corbin Burnes rose to the occasion Saturday night to steer the Orioles to perhaps their most pivotal win of the season. Baltimore’ ace pitched like it across seven magnificent innings in the Orioles’ 4-2 win after the club was nearly no-hit Friday.

The dominant outing was perhaps Burnes’ best of the season. It’s his first scoreless start of the year, while the two hits he allowed, the seven batters he struck out and the 18 whiffs he generated all ranked among his bests this year.

The Orioles’ offense began the game sluggish, although the Tigers’ perfect game and no-hit bids both ended in the first two innings. Then Cedric Mullins delivered an RBI single in the third, and the Orioles broke out for three insurance runs in the seventh on James McCann’s sacrifice fly and Gunnar Henderson’s scorching two-run homer.

Baltimore is 84-65 and drops its magic number to clinch a playoff berth to six. The Orioles are two games back of the New York Yankees for first place in the American League East and two games up on the Kansas City Royals for the AL’s top wild-card spot.

Friday’s defeat, while only one tally in the loss column, was the 2024 Orioles’ rock bottom. They failed to reach base through seven innings — six outs away from being on the receiving end of the 25th perfect game in MLB history and the first in combined fashion. Then, they were one out away from being no-hit for only the eighth time in club history (since 1954) before Gunnar Henderson’s triple in the ninth inning.

“It’s one game,” manager Brandon Hyde said after Friday’s loss.

That, of course, is true. But the offense’s anemic performance wasn’t an anomaly. Entering Saturday, the Orioles had scored only 15 runs across their previous eight games — hitting .182 with a .558 OPS in them. During that stretch, in which they went 2-6, the Orioles went from a half-game ahead of the Yankees to three behind them.

Saturday’s performance hardly counts as a breakout, but it was enough to win. Henderson doubled with two outs in the third and scored on Mullins’ line-drive single to center field — a clutch hit that’s become rare for Baltimore in recent weeks.

As Burnes methodically mowed down Detroit’s hitters, the offense finally provided him with additional run support in the seventh. Emmanuel Rivera and Livan Soto — two post-trade deadline newcomers in Saturday’s starting lineup over youngsters Coby Mayo and Jackson Holliday — reached base on a hit-by-pitch and a double, respectively. McCann drove in Rivera with a sacrifice fly, and Henderson lined his 37th home run — tied for fifth in the majors — to put Baltimore up 4-0.

Cionel Pérez relieved Burnes with a scoreless eighth — the left-hander’s 97th straight outing without allowing a home run — but it got dicey for closer Seranthony Domínguez in the ninth. Parker Meadows led off the inning with a solo homer, and Spencer Torkelson singled home a run with two outs to bring the go-ahead run to the plate. But after a team meeting at the mound, Domínguez hunkered down to get Zach McKinstry to ground out to first to seal the bounce-back victory.

The 2024 Orioles have hit rock bottom. They need it to be a wake-up call. | ANALYSIS https://t.co/lIEAUagnio

— Jacob Calvin Meyer (@jcalvinmeyer) September 14, 2024