Wild Card in hand, O's enjoying turn of tide

ST. PETERSBURG -- For years, the Orioles saw the rest of the AL East run rampant on them. They were the proverbial punching bag of baseball’s toughest division, the recipient of dubious records set against them, historic win streaks accomplished over them and at the mercy of powerhouses looking down on them.

The tide is turning -- in no way bigger than Friday night.

Baltimore’s 10-3 win over the Rays at Tropicana Field was a statement -- a playoff position-altering statement -- starting with Adley Rutschman’s first-inning solo homer off the C-ring catwalk and punctuated by a nearly identical blast from Cedric Mullins in the eighth. As the O's forge into quite easily their most important stretch of baseball in the past six years, playing against two divisional foes they’ve been chasing in the standings, they bring with them a swagger unseen in recent years, the Home Run Chain more a microcosm than a relic of vibes.

Now they can lay claim to the confidence of playoff position. Baltimore’s win over Tampa Bay leapfrogged them into sole possession of the third and final AL Wild Card berth (as well as into third place in the AL East standings), now 1 1/2 games behind the Blue Jays, who hold the second Wild Card. This six-game stretch against the Rays and Toronto is the most crucial since the 2016 postseason-bound club, making the rebuilding between feel like a distant memory.

Yet in face of such a task they are cruising, with an 8-2 record in August so far and a 24-11 mark since the start on July. And on Saturday, they will add one of their top prospects, left-hander DL Hall, to try and win the series.

“I feel like we've been hot for a while now, and we've kind of caught fire and we're just kind of keeping with it,” said starter Austin Voth, who took a no-hitter into the sixth inning. “I know we lost yesterday, but like the mentality in the locker room, I feel like it's stayed the same.”

Friday was just a snippet. Late arrivals to Florida after Thursday’s rescheduled one-game series in Boston, there was no energy lost. Rutschman’s home run on the second at-bat of the game was just the inciting point. Multi-hit games from Rougned Odor, Anthony Santander, Mullins and, most notably, a career-high five hits from Jorge Mateo as part of a season-high 19 from the club was a cascade of elevated talent. Voth’s no-hitter carried into the sixth was the slow build along the way.

A year ago at this time, Baltimore was in the midst of its historic 19-game losing streak.

“We're a lot better team this year,” said manager Brandon Hyde. “We're more well-rounded, we're pitching better, we're playing better defense. We were dangerous offensively. … We're more talented this year.”

The competition is noticing.

"I thought they started to turn things around last year,” said Rays starter Corey Kluber. “The couple times I faced them, I thought the lineup was really good. And I think they've continued that on the offensive side, and they've matched it with some really good pitching. I think that you could kind of see the writing on the wall, and now they're playing really well."

"They've played us really, really well all season long,” added Rays manager Kevin Cash. “Give those guys credit that they find a way to come up with a big hit, big at-bat, big play and certainly have made big pitches against us."

No play may have been more indicative of the Orioles’ elevation in acumen than that of Mateo in the fourth, racing from behind second base in a shift to flip a ball from his own mitt into Ryan Mountcastle’s. The safe call on the field was overturned. Based on what Mateo has done for the Orioles’ infield this season, that was the expectation.

“He's playing special defense for us,” Hyde said.

The Orioles haven’t had a winning record against the Rays since 2015, last year going 1-18 against them. Until this past week, they hadn’t won a series against the Blue Jays since July 2019.

Now those two modest milestones are either clinched or on their way to being accomplished. The Orioles are putting the rest of the division on notice. They believe, within their walls, the rest of the league is next.

“It doesn't feel like we're cooling off or anything like that as of today,” Voth said. “Our at-bats were super hot, pitching was great and everything. We're rolling.”