Rutschman's walk-off HR keeps O's sweepless streak alive

BALTIMORE -- The Orioles’ regular-season sweepless streak had to continue like this, right?

Over the past two years, Baltimore has played too many nail-biters to count. Just when the O’s seem out of a game -- right on the cusp of defeat -- they somehow find a way to win. That’s been the staple of the team since May 2022, a notable month for the club due to two reasons.

It was the last time the Orioles got swept in a multi-game regular-season set (May 13-15, 2022, at Detroit). It was also when Adley Rutschman made his MLB debut (May 21, 2022).

Naturally, the budding face of the franchise who has never experienced a regular-season sweep helped stave off another one in dramatic fashion on the two-year anniversary of that most recent sweep.

Rutschman snuck a walk-off two-run homer over the high right-field scoreboard at Camden Yards in the bottom of the ninth inning on Wednesday afternoon, lifting the Orioles to a 3-2 win over the AL East-rival Blue Jays. Baltimore has not been swept in 105 consecutive regular-season series.

“We’re focused on the long-term picture and getting to where we want to be,” said Rutschman, who slugged his second career walk-off homer. “But I think that is a cool testament to our team.”

Longest regular-season sweepless streaks (min. two decisions, per Elias Sports Bureau)
1. 1942-44 Cardinals: 124
2. 1906-09 Cubs: 115
T-3. 1903-05 Giants: 105
T-3. 2022-present Orioles: 105

The Orioles’ sweepless streak comes with an asterisk — the fact they were swept, 3-0, by the Rangers in the AL Division Series last season. It’s a notation that’s fueling the O’s in 2024, as they’re motivated to get back to October and make a push toward a World Series title.

After winning the division last year, Baltimore (27-14) is proving to again be a talented, resilient team, having already notched 12 comeback victories and six by a margin of one run.

“We have big-time character, and our guys definitely play to win,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “We don’t make it easy on ourselves sometimes.”

That was the case Wednesday, when the sweepless streak was on the line following Tuesday’s rain-induced postponement that shortened the series vs. Toronto to two games.

Through eight innings, the Orioles had only one run, which came on a Jordan Westburg leadoff homer in his first career plate appearance from the leadoff spot. After that, Baltimore went 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position and left 11 men on base.

The O’s had runners on second and third with no outs in the seventh, then produced no runs. They had guys back on second and third with one out in the eighth, but James McCann’s failed squeeze bunt stymied the rally, which also resulted in nobody crossing the plate.

“It’s tough to hold this offense down,” said Baltimore starter Kyle Bradish, who allowed two runs in four innings. “They did a good job early, but it was only a matter of time before we got some runners across.”

Westburg opened the bottom of the ninth with an infield single off right-hander Jordan Romano, legging out a hit on a ball that took a tough bounce on Blue Jays’ second baseman Isiah Kiner-Falefa. It set the stage for Rutschman, one of MLB’s hottest hitters.

Rutschman worked a 2-1 count against Romano, then put a good swing on a fastball that caught too much of the strike zone. But Rutschman wasn’t quite sure if the ball would go out.

“I was running out of the box and around the bases pretty quick,” Rutschman said with a grin.

It’s still a good thing that Rutschman did, because it meant he got to home plate even quicker for a walk-off celebration, which continued after a replay review upheld the call of a home run.

Rutschman, who has nine homers this season, has gone deep in a career-high three consecutive contests, his most recent blast snapping the O’s losing streak before it reached a season-high three games. The 26-year-old has four homers over that span, including two in Monday’s series-opening 10-inning loss to the Blue Jays.

"He's going to win an MVP,” Toronto manager John Schneider said of Rutschman, who has a hit in 21 of his past 23 games and is hitting .314 this season. “He's an organization-changer for them, obviously.”

With Westburg’s leadoff shot and Rutschman’s game-ending homer, the Orioles became the first team since the 1962 Mets to bookend a contest with homers twice in the same season. (The O’s also did it April 17 vs. the Twins).

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Baltimore is the first team to have a game with a leadoff homer, a walk-off homer and no runs scored in between since the 1983 Phillies (Sept. 2 vs. the Giants), and the fourth in AL/NL history, along with the 1971 A’s (Aug. 22 vs. the Red Sox) and the 1966 Braves (Aug. 9 vs. the Dodgers).

All impressive stats for the Orioles from another hard-fought game. But the only thing that mattered to Rutschman? The win added to their record in the standings.

“Winning it is great, as it comes. And to be able to help out tonight was great,” Rutschman said. “It’s always just guys picking each other up -- if not me, then the next guy. That’s kind of our mantra, I guess.”