Veterans Mountcastle, Mullins block out noise to fuel O's victory

BALTIMORE -- This week on the baseball calendar can be among the most stressful for players across the Majors and Minors. The Trade Deadline is looming -- set for Tuesday at 6 p.m. ET -- and rumors are swirling. Moves will be made across the league.

It likely hasn’t been an easy period for Orioles veterans Ryan Mountcastle and Cedric Mullins.

There had been buzz that Baltimore -- sitting in first place in the American League East -- could be willing to move players from its big league roster in order to clear space for prospects. Mountcastle and Mullins were both featured in trade rumors, and then, they saw outfielder Austin Hays (a longtime teammate to both) get dealt to the Phillies on Friday.

Neither Mountcastle nor Mullins is letting Trade Deadline talk affect their play, though. The duo combined for six RBIs in the Orioles’ 8-6 victory over the Padres on Sunday afternoon at Camden Yards, with Mullins also providing another one of his trademark defensive gems.

“I haven’t really heard anything,” Mountcastle said of the trade buzz. “Just going out there and playing my game. That’s all I can do.”

That’s also the best way to handle it, especially when Baltimore (62-43) has been scuffling of late. Sunday’s sweep-denying win was only the club’s second in seven games. The O’s are 9-12 in July and only 13-18 since June 21.

In an attempt to spark the team, manager Brandon Hyde shuffled the batting order. Colton Cowser batted leadoff for the first time in his MLB career, Anthony Santander moved up to No. 2, Gunnar Henderson dropped from No. 1 to No. 3 and other minor adjustments were made.

It helped lead to a six-run third, the Orioles’ biggest inning in more than a month. They hadn’t scored that many runs in a frame since their seven-run eighth on June 21 in Houston.

The first six Baltimore batters reached base in the third. The bases were loaded with no outs when Henderson drew a walk for the game’s first run. That was immediately followed by a Ryan O’Hearn RBI single and a Mountcastle two-run single, both opposite-field knocks.

“For me, that was our best inning in a long, long time,” Hyde said. “Just taking walks, using the whole field, getting into good counts, not chasing and getting some middle-of-field, opposite-field hits with runners in scoring position.”

The rally was capped by Mullins, who continued to swing a hot bat by delivering a two-run double. The 29-year-old is hitting .353 (6-for-17) with seven RBIs over his past seven games.

Mullins’ most impressive moment, though, came in the eighth, when he robbed Manny Machado of extra bases by tracking down a long fly ball for the first out of the inning. Mullins covered 85 feet in 4.9 seconds, per Statcast, before hauling in the ball and crashing into the outfield wall.

“It’s unbelievable the things he does out there,” said Mountcastle, who then pushed the Orioles’ lead to 8-5 with his second two-run single in the bottom of the eighth.

Nothing has been coming easy of late for the O’s, whose previous win Thursday in Miami featured them blowing a 6-0 lead and then pulling out a 7-6 victory in the 10th.

The Padres had a similar comeback attempt, scoring a run on Jurickson Profar’s fielder’s choice groundout in the ninth to cut the Orioles’ lead to 8-6. But Jake Cronenworth grounded out to end it, with right-hander Yennier Cano picking up his fourth save of the season. (Closer Craig Kimbrel, who has struggled of late, was getting a “weekend breather,” per Hyde.)

Perhaps this win will allow Baltimore to get rolling again. Its roster has already changed in recent days, with right-hander Zach Eflin -- acquired from Tampa Bay on Friday -- set to start Game 1 of Monday’s home doubleheader vs. Toronto.

The O’s must sweep the four-game set with the Blue Jays in order to post a winning July record. Tuesday’s Trade Deadline could provide a spark of its own -- considering the team will likely make additional moves -- although the players will continue to ignore it until then.

“This clubhouse, I don’t think that that’s been an issue. I think we’re just going through one of those tough stretches right now,” said veteran catcher James McCann, who walked twice during the third inning. “I’ve said this my whole career: When a season’s a rollercoaster, you end up having just an average season. Right now, we’re on the downswing of a rollercoaster, and we’ve got to find a way to even that out and keep that rollercoaster as even with as few hills as possible.”