Santander, O's All-Stars key romp to open 2nd half in Texas

ARLINGTON -- Tuesday’s All-Star Game began with Corbin Burnes on the mound, Adley Rutschman behind the plate and Gunnar Henderson at shortstop -- three of the Orioles’ five representatives getting the opportunity to start in the Midsummer Classic at Globe Life Field, while Anthony Santander and Jordan Westburg watched from the American League bench.

Baltimore’s All-Stars returned to the same ballpark on Friday and reminded everybody exactly why they were invited to Arlington early in the first place -- especially first-timer Santander, who singled in the All-Star Game and stole the show in the O’s first game of the second half.

Santander slugged a pair of home runs during a career-high-tying five-RBI performance, powering the O’s to a 9-1 victory over the Rangers. Rutschman also went deep -- he and Colton Cowser each hit a two-run homer during a four-run first against right-hander Nathan Eovaldi -- while Henderson had a career-high-tying four hits (all singles) and Burnes tossed six innings of one-run ball.

Baltimore (59-38) maintained its one-game lead over New York (59-40) in the AL East on the strength of its All-Star core.

“Gunnar probably had the most casual four-hit night that kind of got overshadowed by all those home runs,” Cowser said. “It’s just a testament to them and the kind of players that they are. Just really humble guys that like going out there and competing.”

The internal competition for home runs is heating up at the top of the O’s team leaderboard. Henderson has 28 -- third in MLB behind only the Yankees’ Aaron Judge (34) and the Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani (29) -- but Santander now has 26, tied with the Braves’ Marcell Ozuna for fourth most in the Majors.

After belting a two-run homer in the fifth, Santander added a three-run blast in the seventh, recording the third five-RBI game of his eight-year MLB career. (He also had five on May 5 at Cincinnati and on May 5, 2023, at Atlanta.)

Santander’s 15 career multihomer games rank eighth in franchise history. He’s six behind the club record of 21, held by Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr.

One of only 10 MLB players with 87-plus homers since the beginning of 2022, Santander is already seven away from matching his single-season best (33 in ’22). This year has to be the best he’s felt at the plate at any point in his career, right?

“Uh, yeah, I think so,” Santander said with a grin. “I would say yes.”

Brandon Hyde, who has been Santander’s manager since 2019, agrees with the notion.

“This is, for me,” Hyde said. “I’ve seen him in some good stretches, but what he’s done so far this year -- he’s got 26 homers and we’re not in August yet. Big hits from both sides of the plate.”

It hasn’t taken long for Burnes -- in his first year in Baltimore -- to find out exactly what kind of player Santander can be.

“It’s been incredible,” Burnes said. “I think he’s been a difference-maker, being a veteran guy there in the middle of the lineup.”

It was a busy week of travel for Burnes, who tossed a scoreless first in the All-Star Game. The 29-year-old right-hander arrived in Arlington the morning of the game and departed shortly after the event to maximize his time spent with his newborn twin daughters at his home in Phoenix.

Burnes returned to Globe Life Field and delivered -- what else? -- a quality start. The ace’s lone blemish was a two-out solo homer by Nathaniel Lowe in the second, as he yielded only two hits, worked around four walks and racked up six strikeouts.

“Didn’t look like he missed a beat,” Hyde said. “He was fantastic tonight.”

Of Burnes’ 20 outings during his first season in Baltimore, 16 have been quality starts. He’s allowed one or fewer earned runs 10 times.

“I always feel like we’re in the game whenever he’s throwing,” Cowser said, “so to be able to get an early lead like that was huge.”

For many Orioles players -- including All-Stars Henderson, Rutschman, Santander and Westburg -- this week is allowing them to make better memories at a ballpark where they experienced the final (and worst) moments of a remarkable 2023 season. The O’s were eliminated from last year’s postseason at Globe Life Field, where Texas completed a three-game sweep in the AL Division Series.

Eovaldi tossed seven innings of one-run ball in the Game 3 clincher. He was tagged for six runs in five innings on Friday.

Clearly, Baltimore is looking toward the future, not the past.

“I thought about it,” Santander said, “but we let it go.”