Adley crushes game-tying HR in ninth

When the Orioles selected Adley Rutschman with the first pick in the 2019 Draft, they envisioned a plethora of performances like Sunday’s day at the dish in his future.

The No. 2 prospect crushed a clutch, game-tying three-run homer with two outs in the top of the ninth for Bowie as the exclamation point to his first three-hit day of the season.

“In situations like that it's always important to calm yourself down and focus on simplifying your approach, finding a good pitch to hit and getting a good swing off when you get that pitch,” said Rutschman. “I got it pretty well, so I knew off the bat.”

Rutschman finished with a final line of 3-for-4, drove in three runs and scored two with one walk in Bowie’s come from behind 5-4 victory over Richmond. Sunday’s game was the second time in his career the slugging catcher notched three or more hits in a game, with his first such performance taking place on Aug. 19, 2019, a five-hit, 10 total-base explosion.

The Orioles' No. 1 prospect’s day got off to a tame start with an infield single he chopped over the reach of Richmond starter and Giants No. 11 prospect Sean Hjelle’s 6-foot-11 frame. Shortstop Shane Matheny tried to make a quick play on the ball up the middle, but it went under his glove to allow Rutschman to reach safely.

The switch-hitter’s second knock of the day came on a 3-1 count in the third inning. Rutschman used his patience to lay off three pitches out of the zone to get to a 3-1 count. He slapped another base hit through the hole at shortstop due to the shifted infield.

The game remained scoreless through five innings, thanks in part to Orioles' No. 4 prospect DL Hall's fabulous start. The lefty tossed four scoreless innings, and scattered two hits and two walks with eight strikeouts in a dominant effort.

Rutschman worked his 17th walk with one out in the top of the sixth, and was the last batter Hjelle faced. He advanced his way around the bases on a walk and a fielder’s choice, and scored on Jaylen Ferguson’s RBI walk to put Bowie up 1-0.

“Getting back into the swing of things after taking a year off, it’s so important to stay process oriented,” Rutschman said about his patient approach. “Seeing good pitches and swinging at good pitches to hit is super important as well, keeping with that process and trying to get better.”

The Oregon State product’s lone at-bat from the right side of the plate resulted in his lone out of the day, a well-struck line drive that was tracked down by Giants No. 3 prospect Heliot Ramos in the seventh.

Bowie entered the top of the ninth down 4-1. A walk by Alexis Torres and a single by Cadyn Grenier put two men on for Rutschman, as he entered the box with two outs in the ninth.

He took the first three pitches from reliever Raffi Vizcaino to work his way into his fourth three-ball count of the day. After taking a pitch down the middle, Rutschman unloaded on the fifth pitch of the at-bat for his monstrous, game-tying, three-run blast.

“I was just happy to give us a chance to put runs on the board and tie up the ball game to keep us in the game,” he said. He added that he felt “A flood of emotion going around the bases.”

Bowie took a 5-4 lead on Ferguson’s sac fly in the top of the 10th and held on to that lead for their 13th win in 17 games this season.

Rutschman got off to a slow start, but has been adamant about sticking with his process and is confident that the hits will start to fall like they did on Sunday. Following his six total-base performance, Rutschman is slashing .246/.432/.475 through 81 plate appearances with a .908 OPS on the season.

“I’m always working on my swing and trying to drive the ball better. Today and the last couple days I’ve started to see it a lot better,” the top prospect said. “The results showed a little bit more and I was able to get a couple good swings off and drive the ball better.”