O's young battery fulfills hopes in key win over Rays

BALTIMORE -- While sitting in the Orioles’ dugout Tuesday afternoon and looking out on the Camden Yards field, general manager Mike Elias acknowledged the narrative of this week’s series against the American League East rival Rays. For a Baltimore squad on the rise, it’s a good “measuring stick” to take on MLB’s top team.

In earlier years of Elias’ tenure, the Grayson Rodriguez-Adley Rutschman battery -- then ascending the Minors -- provided hope the O’s could eventually compete with the best again. Now, the duo has become a main reason why they can.

On Tuesday night, Rodriguez turned in the longest of his seven big league starts and Rutschman blasted a go-ahead two-run homer to lift the Orioles to a 4-2 win over the Rays. It snapped a season-high three-game losing streak for Baltimore (23-13), which recorded its 13th comeback victory of the season.

Tampa Bay (29-8) lost for only the second time in 25 games in which it has scored first this year.

O’s fans waited years to see Rodriguez (the No. 11 overall pick in the 2018 MLB Draft) throw to Rutschman (the No. 1 pick in ‘19) on the big league stage before the 23-year-old right-hander joined the 25-year-old catcher in the Majors last month. These types of performances are what they envisioned.

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“I’d like to see a lot more of that. I think everybody, all the fans, would,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “Two really young, up-and-coming, really good players, and they’re going to be fun to watch going forward and in the future.”

Rodriguez allowed two runs over 5 2/3 innings, giving up solo homers to Wander Franco in the first and Taylor Walls in the fifth. The Orioles’ No. 1 prospect (and MLB Pipeline’s No. 5 overall prospect) had four strikeouts, which included punching out Randy Arozarena to strand runners on the corners to end the fifth.

For the first time in his young MLB career, Rodriguez took the mound for the sixth. He got Harold Ramírez to ground out and fanned Luke Raley before Isaac Paredes singled on Rodriguez’s 101st and final pitch of the night. He had never thrown more than 100 pitches in a game in five professional seasons.

Elias earlier praised Rodriguez for being “very gritty” thus far, and the right-hander again navigated an outing filled with challenges, with at least one man on base each inning. At those times, it helps when he has a familiar target.

“I’ve been throwing to Adley since I was 19. He knows me pretty well,” Rodriguez said. “It’s pretty fortunate for me to have him behind the plate. And of course, when he’s swinging the bat well, hitting balls out of the yard, that’s a lot of fun.”

Rutschman delivered the game’s decisive swing. He gave Baltimore a 3-1 lead in the third with a Statcast-projected 407-foot two-run homer, snapping an 0-for-19 skid with the dinger, which was the first of his career to land on Eutaw Street, situated beyond the right-field flag court and in front of the warehouse.

When Elias was asked about Rutschman’s impact over the past year, the GM pointed to the Orioles’ 90-68 record since the backstop’s debut on May 21, 2022. He positively impacts every facet of the club with his potent bat, reliable defense and impressive management of the pitching staff. Like Rodriguez, Rutschman is only improving with experience.

After dropping two of three to the National League-best Braves in Atlanta over the weekend and Monday night’s series opener to the even more dominant Rays, the Orioles bounced back by prevailing in another close affair. Each of their past four games has been decided by three or fewer runs. So they’re quite pleased with how they’re stacking up against elite teams.

“We’ve played good baseball the last couple days,” Rutschman said. “I like the way we’ve played, the way we’re continuing to play, and we’re just going to continue to try and get better and do our thing.”

Over the winter and in Spring Training, Elias repeatedly stated Baltimore’s postseason aspirations for 2023. He did the same Tuesday, maintaining the O’s have “a very good shot of making the playoffs.” How could they not, considering all of the emerging young talent?

It may remain early, but as Rodriguez and Rutschman helped prove, the Orioles are now holding their own in the formidable AL East. They’ve been out to show it against the Rays, and they’ll aim to do so again by taking the series in Wednesday’s rubber game.

“These games count a little bit more than non-division games, and whether those games happen in May or September, the games count the same,” Elias said. “These guys have played like the best team in baseball right now, so I definitely think our team is looking at this with a specific mindset.”