O's bats put up 'heck of a fight' in 7-run 8th, but can't catch 'Stros

HOUSTON -- It’s practically become a rallying cry for the Orioles in recent years, and manager Brandon Hyde wasted little time before saying it following Friday night’s 14-11 loss to the Astros.

“We’re never out of a game,” Hyde said.

Even ones in which Baltimore almost certainly seems out of it, such as this series opener.

For 3 hours and 26 minutes, Minute Maid Park played more like high-altitude Coors Field. The O’s and ‘Stros turned a tight game into a slugfest, and through six innings, it sure appeared like it would result in a lopsided win for the home team.

Baltimore trailed, 14-3, after Houston put up nine runs during a sixth inning in which it sent 12 batters to the plate and tallied six hits (including five doubles). The Astros needed to record only nine more outs to put the finishing touches on an impressive victory.

But Gunnar Henderson led off the seventh with a home run, and suddenly, the Orioles had life.

Pretty much everybody in the building likely still thought the O’s couldn’t win. Their players didn’t get the memo, continuing to keep the energy up in the dugout.

“There’s always a chance,” outfielder Anthony Santander said. “We go out there and compete. If we would get out, it’s part of the game. But our mentality is always go out there, compete and try to get on base to be able to score some runs.”

Baltimore didn’t score again in the seventh following Henderson’s homer, but the comeback attempt became much more legitimate with a seven-run eighth.

Jorge Mateo, Henderson and Santander each slugged two-run home runs during a rally that also featured a Ryan Mountcastle RBI double. Santander’s blast came last, cutting Houston’s lead to 14-11 -- only a field goal away in a score typically more suited for a football field than a baseball diamond.

“I mean, our guys can swing it,” said O’s starter Grayson Rodriguez, who allowed a season-high-tying seven runs in five-plus innings. “I wish I had done a little bit better of a job to keep us in there. But really, yeah, any time our offense is swinging the bat, they’re going to put up a lot of runs.”

How could the Orioles not think they still had at least a fighting opportunity? They lead MLB in runs scored (401), home runs (123) and slugging percentage (.460).

Only five players in the big leagues have 20 or more homers this season, and two of them are in Baltimore’s lineup. Henderson has 24 after his second career multi-homer game -- sitting behind only Yankees slugger Aaron Judge (27) on the MLB leaderboard -- and Santander has 20.

Santander has been on an incredible tear, too, with 11 of his home runs coming this month. No player in Orioles history (since 1954) has hit more than 12 homers in June, and the 29-year-old still has nine more games to add to his total.

A day after recording 19 hits in a 17-5 win at Yankee Stadium, Baltimore’s bats stayed hot and collected 18 more knocks, with Adley Rutschman leading the way by tallying a career-high-tying five.

“We always stay in the game. We never give away an AB,” Santander said. “Every hitter, we go out there to compete and make some runs, and that’s what we did tonight, even with that loss.”

More positives came out of Friday’s game for the O’s than initially expected.

The Orioles forced the Astros to use five relievers, including high-leverage right-hander Bryan Abreu, who recorded the save while pitching for the third straight day. He’ll almost certainly be unavailable on Saturday.

Plus, Baltimore has momentum heading into the second contest in the series, when it will play behind ace Corbin Burnes, who has strung together a career-high 10 straight quality starts.

“Guys feel like we’re never out of a game,” Hyde said. “Just a little too many runs to come back from. But that was a heck of a fight.”

This month has been grueling for the Orioles. They’re playing 29 games in 30 days, and their previous two series were against the National League-best Phillies and the MLB-best Yankees (as they took two of three from each).

On paper, the Astros actually appeared to be the weakest opponent on the June docket, entering Friday with a .467 winning percentage that ranked as the lowest of any of the eight teams the O’s are facing this month.

But Houston (an AL powerhouse for nearly a decade) is still a solid team, and reigning AL East champion Baltimore knew it would be in for a fight this weekend.

“This is a playoff team. This is a really, really dangerous lineup. They swing the bat extremely well, especially here at home,” Hyde said. “It’s still a really, really dangerous team.”