Santander's hit streak at 13: 'He's just on fire'

The Orioles’ underlying pitching issues have risen to the surface this week, serving as the main ingredient of the three-game losing streak that has Baltimore back hovering around .500. But another reality is also plain to see: If Anthony Santander and the offense keeps producing like this, it might not matter.

It’s at least worth looking at where some of the Orioles’ regular bats stand relative to the league after their 8-7 10-inning defeat to the Blue Jays on Tuesday, during which Santander starred as Baltimore fought back from a four-run deficit. It ended up in a losing effort after Lourdes Gurriel Jr.’s 10th-inning RBI fielder’s choice scored automatic runner Travis Shaw, and the Orioles ran themselves out of the bottom half of the frame.

• Box score

“Had an opportunity and made a mistake and tough loss,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said. “But really proud of how our guys battled back.”

On a night where contributions came from up and down the lineup, Santander homered twice off top Toronto rookie Nate Pearson to find himself alone in second place atop the American League’s home run leaderboards. Only Mike Trout -- yes, that Mike Trout -- has more. Santander also doubled later to extend his lead atop the league extra-base hits leaderboard, and he cut down an important runner with an outfield assist in the seventh.

AL home run leaders
1) Mike Trout (LAA): 10
2-T) Anthony Santander (BAL): 9
2-T) Aaron Judge (NYY): 9
4-T) Brandon Lowe (TB): 8
4-T) Nelson Cruz (MIN): 8
4-T) Luke Voit (NYY): 8

And MLB extra-base hit leaders
1) Anthony Santander (BAL): 19
2) Brandon Lowe (TB): 17
2-T) Fernando Tatis Jr. (SD): 17

And, lastly, AL RBI leaders
1) Anthony Santander (BAL): 25
2-T) Nelson Cruz (MIN): 23
2-T) Brandon Lowe (TB): 23

All told, Santander is hitting .298 with a 1.035 OPS through 23 games. He is batting .363 with seven homers and 18 RBIs over his current 13-game hit streak.

“He’s just on fire,” Hyde said. “ He’s really driving the ball. For him to turn [Pearson] around early, and the line drive out to the bullpen, I thought that was going to be a one-hop double and it just continued to carry. Just really good swings.”

Santander isn’t alone in that regard. With his game-tying pinch-hit single off A.J. Cole in the seventh, Hanser Alberto maintained his grip atop the AL hits leaderboard with Seattle’s Kyle Lewis. Only Rockies superstar Charlie Blackmon, who's vying for a .400 season, has more than Alberto’s 31 hits in MLB. Contributions also kept coming Tuesday from leadoff-hitter-for-a-day Chance Sisco (two-run homer) and Pedro Severino (two hits), who rank first and second among AL catchers in Wins Above Replacement.

The upstart, are-they-really-doing-this Orioles are now 12-11. They are also all over the league leaderboards.

These are big picture takeaways from what was, by all admissions, a frustrating loss. From Wade LeBlanc’s third consecutive short start, to the Chris Davis throw Severino couldn’t corral that led to the winning run, to Dwight Smith Jr.’s baserunning blunder that thwarted the Orioles’ best chance to tie in the bottom of the 10th -- these Orioles are learning that at this level, the margin between winning and losing can be razor thin. But their bats are still providing more bandwidth than at any point a season ago.

“I think the most important thing is to control the emotions, try to come to the ballpark ready to compete and help my team win, which is the most important thing right now,” Santander said, through team translator Ramon Alarcon. “The whole idea is to continue to fight, to work hard, to compete and hopefully get a win at the end of the game. Hopefully, we’ll do better tomorrow.”