'Game-changer': Santander homers twice in return from back soreness

BALTIMORE -- Many times this year, Anthony Santander has made postgame visits to the trainers’ room that have lasted well after the final pitch of the night was thrown. Although the 28-year-old Orioles outfielder hasn’t spent a day on the injured list, he’s been dealing with lower back soreness since the early months of the regular season.

It finally caused Santander to miss some time this past week, as he exited early in Friday’s contest in Oakland and then was out of action for Baltimore’s next three games.

On Wednesday night, Santander returned to the Orioles’ lineup and immediately proved there isn’t any cause for long-term concern. He slugged a pair of solo home runs -- his team-high 22nd and 23rd of the year -- as he helped power Baltimore to a 7-0 victory over Toronto at Camden Yards.

The O’s (78-48) remained two games ahead of the Rays in the American League East and extended their streak of multi-game series without being swept to 80, the fourth-longest such run in AL/NL history. Baltimore also improved to 9-2 vs. the Blue Jays this season.

The big question at the end of the night: How was Santander feeling after Baltimore’s latest triumph?

“Not 100 percent, but I feel much better today,” Santander said with his signature wide smile.

That became evident as Santander constructed the 13th multi-homer game of his seven-year big league career (and his third this season).

In the fifth inning, Santander pushed the Orioles’ lead to 2-0 by clubbing a solo homer off Toronto right-hander Kevin Gausman. Santander connected on a 1-2 slider well below the zone and sent it a Statcast-projected 393 feet. Gausman’s pitch was only 0.96 feet off the ground, making it the fourth-lowest offering to be hit for a home run in the Majors this season.

It almost seemed like Santander was expecting to see something low, but that wasn’t the case.

“No, no, no. I was looking up. I guess I’m a good low-pitch hitter,” Santander said. “I was able to stay back on my leg and pull a good swing.”

Santander’s second blast was a leadoff homer off righty Trevor Richards in the eighth. It sparked a five-run rally for Baltimore, which capped its scoring with a two-out, two-run single by Adley Rutschman.

Although Santander was having a bit of a tough August -- he was batting .140 (7-for-50) over his previous 14 games entering Wednesday -- he makes the heart of the Orioles’ order much more potent. And it typically doesn’t take long for him to start heating up.

“His bat is definitely a game-changer,” right-hander Dean Kremer said.

Added manager Brandon Hyde: “Nice to have him back in the lineup. [His back] is probably something that I’m going to have to monitor, and as you can tell, he makes a huge impact on our lineup when he’s in there.”

Santander isn’t the only player in Baltimore -- or in MLB, for that matter -- who is a bit banged up at this point in the season. It’s late August, after all, with more than 100 games in the books for each of the Majors’ 30 teams.

Right-hander Jack Flaherty is also a bit sore. The 27-year-old was supposed to start on Wednesday, but he was scratched with “general soreness” stemming from his previous outing in San Diego on Aug. 15. Instead, Kremer took the mound for the middle contest against the Blue Jays.

Kremer hadn’t pitched in exactly one week, due to the Orioles utilizing a six-man rotation and them having off-days last Thursday and Monday. So the righty was still fresh, and he showed it, leading Baltimore’s eighth shutout win of the season with six stellar innings.

Over his past nine starts, Kremer has a 3.06 ERA, lowering his season mark from 5.04 to 4.31.

“It’s a marathon, not a sprint,” said Kremer, who scattered five hits (all singles) with five strikeouts and no walks. “That’s the goal -- to really peak once September and, hopefully, October hit.”

The Orioles share that mindset, which is why they didn’t rush Santander back into the lineup, even though he initially thought he could return by Tuesday’s series opener.

From here, Santander will continue to manage his back soreness so that he can keep contributing throughout Baltimore’s pennant race, and potentially into the postseason.

“The trainers have done a really good job keeping me in the lineup -- a lot of treatment, a lot of mobility; strength and conditioning, too,” Santander said. “Hopefully, this won’t bother me again, and I’ll continue to go toward 100 percent.”