'Back-breaking hits,' sharp pitching fuel rout

BALTIMORE -- Suddenly, the Orioles cannot be stopped.

The O's followed up Wednesday night's dramatic losing-streak-snapping win in a resounding way, running away with a 13-1 victory over the Angels on Thursday afternoon in a scorching series finale at Oriole Park. Benefiting from Keegan Akin’s strongest start of the season and Pedro Severino’s fifth-inning grand slam, Baltimore earned back-to-back wins for the first time since July 30-31.

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The Orioles did so behind a career-high seven innings from Akin, who struck out six and allowed one run en route to his first victory since Sept. 16, 2020, and his first career quality start. Entering play on Thursday, Baltimore had lost 17 of 18 of Akin’s games, and 10 of his 11 starts, this season. With 36 games left, the rookie left-hander is one of many O’s who have something to prove down the stretch.

Here is a rundown of some key contributors from Thursday's win:

LHP Keegan Akin
Given the state of the Orioles’ rotation, it seems like Akin will get the chance to prove he can be dependable down the stretch of what’s been a disappointing season for the former prospect. Thursday marked the first tangible step in that direction. Registering his first career quality start, Akin allowed Shohei Ohtani’s leadoff homer but consistently wiggled out of further trouble, stranding runners in the second, third, fourth and fifth innings before retiring his last eight hitters.

“Trying to keep things simple,” Akin said. “I was overthinking things there for a stretch.”

One specific adjustment? Akin ditched his windup, pitching exclusively from the stretch in an attempt to streamline his mechanics. It helped give it the feel of Akin’s best prior performances this season, all of which have come in long relief. That very well may be where his future lies, but starts like this showed why opportunities remain for Akin in the rotation despite his 7.26 ERA. His efforts also made him the first Orioles starter to complete seven innings since John Means on May 24.

RHP Jorge López
Following Akin with two dominant innings, López struck out four of the seven hitters he faced in his second appearance since losing his rotation spot last month. These next six weeks are big for López, who will be arbitration-eligible for the first time this winter after struggling mightily as a starter this summer, pitching to a 6.35 ERA in the rotation. The Orioles were hopeful his stuff would play up in shorter stints, and so far it has -- López has struck out six across three scoreless innings in relief.

“I think it might be helpful for him coming to the park not knowing if he’ll pitch or not,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “He’s got starter stuff, so with the lack of starting pitching out there in the game, you don’t want to give up on a guy with starter stuff. It’s been a difficult year for him in a lot of ways. So you take that into perspective also. But I do think he’s interesting as a reliever as well.”

Speaking about López's potential in a relief role, Hyde made the loose comparison to Joe Kelly, who was erratic as a starter with the Cardinals before blossoming into an impact reliever. He also left the door open for López to return to the rotation at some point -- the club isn’t committing to anyone yet for his vacated slot.

“He can be a late-inning, two-inning guy or whatever it may be, because the fastball velo and secondary stuff is good,” Hyde said. “That said, he has four pitches also. So we’re going to explore all options with him.”

CF Cedric Mullins
Can Mullins join the 30-30 club? Can he swing his way to the AL hits crown? Both remain in sight after this series, which saw Mullins break out of a 5-for-40 funk, his first real slump of the season. Mullins homered and drove in three on Wednesday, then stole two bases and scored twice on Thursday to pace the Orioles’ 15-hit attack. He now has 22 homers and 24 steals with 36 games to play. Mullins' 146 hits trail Angels second baseman David Fletcher (2-for-15 this series) by one for the AL lead.

Mullins was far from the only O’s hitter to contribute on Thursday. Severino plated six, Ramón Urías had three hits and drove in two, Ryan Mountcastle enjoyed another multihit day and DJ Stewart reached in all three of his plate appearances. Stewart in particular has produced of late, reaching base at a .419 clip with four homers in his past 10 games amid increased playing time. He would benefit as much as any other O’s hitter from a hot September.

“We scored some runs the last few days, and got some big hits we hadn’t gotten really for the past couple months,” Hyde said. “Back-breaking hits.”