Eflin makes history with 4th straight win to begin O's tenure

BALTIMORE -- The Orioles made a flurry of moves ahead of the July 30 Trade Deadline, completing seven deals over a five-day span. The defending American League East champions retooled their roster amid their push for a second consecutive division crown.

The most impactful of those moves has undoubtedly been the acquisition of Zach Eflin, who is making quite the first impression on his new team.

Since being traded from AL East rival Tampa Bay on July 26, Eflin has had a dominant start to his Baltimore tenure, which continued against familiar foe Boston on Thursday night. The 30-year-old right-hander racked up a season-high eight strikeouts over six innings of one-run ball, leading the O’s to a series-opening 5-1 victory at Camden Yards.

All four of Eflin’s outings for the Orioles have been quality starts, and he’s earned the win in each. The only previous pitcher in O’s history (since 1954) to record a win in each of his first four appearances for the team was Jack Harshman in ‘58 (three starts and one relief outing). Eflin is the first to achieve the feat with all four outings being starts.

“I’m trying to go out and do my job every fifth day, stay in the game as long as I can,” said Eflin, who worked his MLB-high 12th start without issuing a walk this season. “Those are things I’m focused on. I’m not necessarily focused on getting approval from everybody. Just go out, play hard, be competitive and see where it takes me.”

That mindset is again taking Eflin to impressive heights -- unsurprising to Baltimore’s hitters who used to have to face the righty.

“He’s always been a competitor out there, even when he was with Tampa. He’s given us trouble in the past,” said Cedric Mullins, who hit one of the Orioles’ two homers in the victory. “It’s awesome to have him with us, doing his thing.”

The beginning to Eflin’s time in Baltimore has been historic in numerous other ways:

• Eflin’s 25 strikeouts are tied for the second most by an Oriole over his first four appearances for the team, behind only Pete Richert (28 in 1967). Corbin Burnes (2024), Grayson Rodriguez (‘23) and Jason Hammel (‘12) also had 25.

• Eflin’s 2.13 ERA is the lowest for an O’s pitcher through four outings for the club (minimum 20 innings pitched) since Hammel had a 1.73 ERA after four starts in 2012.

• Eflin is one of only two pitchers to issue only two walks while pitching more than 20 innings over his first four Baltimore starts. Kevin Brown also had two over 29 1/3 innings in 1995.

“He can backdoor cutters, he’s got a good changeup, he can flip in a breaking ball when he wants, and the two-seamers, he’s got really good movement. It’s down in the strike zone. So it’s super unpredictable for the at-bat,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “He pitches to both sides of the plate extremely well, and he’s unbelievably prepared with a great game plan going in. When he executes, it’s tough to hit.”

Eflin leaned on his three hardest offerings (cutter, four-seam fastball and sinker), throwing them a combined 73 times. But he also mixed in his curveball, changeup and sweeper effectively.

Of the 12 whiffs induced by Eflin, he got four with his cutter, three with his four-seamer, three with his curveball and two with his sinker. The only damage against Eflin came in the fourth, which Wilyer Abreu led off with a homer on an impressive swing against a well-located curve below the strike zone.

Eflin again credited catcher James McCann -- who has caught each of the right-hander’s four O’s starts -- for the success he’s having with his new club.

“Really just following his lead,” Eflin said. “It was a fun night.”

Gunnar Henderson gave Baltimore the lead with a two-run homer in the fourth -- his 31st home run of the season -- and the Orioles led the rest of the way. They improved to 72-50, again pulling even with the Yankees (72-50) atop the AL East.

There hasn’t been much time for Eflin to get settled upon being thrown into a chase for a division crown. Yet, he’s solidified himself as Baltimore’s No. 2 starter behind ace Corbin Burnes, a hole the O’s needed to fill with Rodriguez (right lat/teres strain) on the injured list and likely out until late September.

“You’re kind of forced to be comfortable this late in the season, especially in the middle of a pennant chase. Baseball never stops, so you’ve got to come in ready to go,” Eflin said. “Everybody’s been so welcoming and so great, and it’s a really fun team to be a part of, so that’s definitely helped a lot.”