Coulombe feels love from O's fans in his return

This story was excerpted from Jake Rill’s Orioles Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

BALTIMORE -- Middle relievers are rarely among fans’ favorite baseball players. They’re not hitting home runs like the young superstars, nor hurling dominant gems like the sport’s top aces.

They’re not the flashiest members of the bullpen, either. Those are the closers, who rack up saves by pitching the final (and frequently the most stressful) innings of games and often get special entrances at ballparks across the country.

Middle relievers are unheralded contributors who rarely get the appreciation they deserve.

However, that wasn’t the case Friday at Camden Yards, where left-hander Danny Coulombe was the most popular player to take the field.

In the top of the eighth inning, Coulombe departed the Orioles’ bullpen and jogged onto the field as a hype video showing some of his highlights played on the video board. The 34-year-old warmed up for his first appearance since June 8, after missing more than three months due to an elbow injury that required surgery to remove bone chips.

When Coulombe took the mound and was introduced, many of the orange-clad fans rose to their feet and greeted the southpaw with a loud ovation upon his return.

“It’s the first time in my career I’ve had anything like that. That was pretty cool,” said Coulombe, a 10-year MLB veteran. “So, thank you, Baltimore.”

The O’s faithful understand how much Coulombe has meant to the team the past two seasons -- and how important he is to the club’s chances of making a deep run through October.

Coulombe, who was acquired from the Twins in exchange for cash considerations at the end of Spring Training in 2023, had a 2.81 ERA and a 1.11 WHIP in 61 appearances during his first season in Baltimore. He emerged as the Orioles’ top left-handed reliever.

Over the first two-plus months of the 2024 season, Coulombe was even better, recording a 2.42 ERA and a 0.62 WHIP in 29 outings before undergoing surgery.

Entering Friday, Baltimore’s 4.85 bullpen ERA since the beginning of July was the fourth worst in MLB. So it’s easy to see why O’s fans were eager to welcome back Coulombe -- who also happens to be a clubhouse favorite and an active participant in Baltimore’s community efforts.

“I know the guys in the dugout appreciated that,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said. “What he's done here for the last two years and how much we’ve missed him this second half, for people to recognize that, put some highlights on the scoreboard -- I thought that was a classy touch for somebody who's done a lot here in the last two years.”

Coulombe then contributed to the Orioles’ 7-1 victory by working a scoreless eighth inning. He struck out Jake Rogers to open the frame, getting the Tigers’ catcher to swing and miss at a 1-2 sweeper near the bottom of the strike zone.

Although Coulombe gave up back-to-back, one-out singles to Parker Meadows and Andy Ibáñez, he stranded them both in scoring position after striking out Matt Vierling and getting Riley Greene to fly out to right field to end the 24-pitch frame.

It wasn’t Coulombe’s cleanest work, but it was an encouraging showing that should give Baltimore hope that he’ll be at his best for the stretch run and the postseason.

Coulombe is just glad to be back after a three-month recovery.

“Surgery’s a tricky thing. There’s a lot of things that can happen through it,” Coulombe said. “I’m just thankful that it went pretty well, it went pretty smooth. For a 34-year-old old guy, you just never know. But I’m just really happy to be back here with the guys.”

And those guys may be even happier that Coulombe is again pitching on their side.

“Seeing Danny come in, you could see guys getting excited in the dugout for him after the inning,” veteran catcher James McCann said. “It’s exciting. It's a lot of fun to see and get us back on the right track.”