BALTIMORE -- Chance Sisco tallied a career-high five RBIs in Friday’s domination of the Indians. Had it not been for a stolen home run in the fourth and ground-rule double with the bases loaded in the eighth, that number could have easily been seven, matching his total 2019 output entering Friday in a single game.

But manager Brandon Hyde took more pride in Sisco’s behind-the-plate performance, working with four different pitchers to call only the Orioles’ second shutout win of the season.

“For me, as excited as I was for how he swung the bat, I was so pleased with what he did behind the plate,” Hyde said Saturday. “I thought he worked great with John Means. They both had a great tempo going throughout the game. And he got those relievers through their innings and … just had a really nice relationship going with all the guys that pitched last night.”

“Really well,” Means said after the win when asked how he and Sisco synched over his five one-hit innings. “He was great behind the plate. We were doing really well.”

Sisco represents an intriguing situation for the Orioles. He’s too old and has too much potential to warrant spending much more time in the Minors than he has, and he’s young enough at 24 to potentially be included on the roster by the time the Orioles return to any sort of postseason contention.

Development will be key to see if that reality ever takes place. Hyde -- a former catcher himself -- tasked Sisco at Spring Training to focus on his demeanor and improve communication skills, thereby increasing synchronization with the pitching staff and putting more zeros on the board. The results, so far, have been nothing but positive.

“You saw him with a lot of non-verbal communication with the pitchers” Hyde said. “You saw him reinforcing pitches, you saw guys comfortable with burying breaking balls with two strikes and him dropping right between his feet. He came off the field with energy, talking between innings. All of those things that are the intangible parts of catching.”

“I think it’s tremendously different,” Sisco said Friday of his mindset in 2019. “That’s kind of something I focused on in the offseason, not really letting certain things bother me and coming out here playing the game I know how to play.”

Sisco is playing in bunches right now -- he made his second consecutive start Saturday -- to earn himself valuable experience in the big leagues that can pay dividends should he remain with the team by a return to contention. He has split time with Pedro Severino behind the plate and made one start as a designated hitter. As a lefty batter, Sisco has not made one start this year against a southpaw starter.

Sisco is too inexperienced to be considered a platoon hitter quite yet. The numbers aren’t the most encouraging -- .095 batting average against lefties and .226 against righties going into play on Saturday -- but he's only had 26 career plate appearances against lefties compared to 225 against righties.

That should start to change soon. Hyde reaffirmed Saturday that while platoon hitters can still bring value to a club, he plans to get Sisco more at-bats against lefties this year.

Regardless of how the rest of 2019 unfolds -- whether he spends it all in Baltimore or heads back to Triple-A Norfolk here and there -- Sisco is enjoying his current positive output and showcasing to the organization that he’s listened and adapted to their feedback.

“I don’t really care where I’m at. … Just hitting the ball hard and getting those types of results is always fun no matter where you’re at,” Sisco said. “To do it here is special, for sure.”

“Chance is growing,” Hyde reaffirmed.

Pitching plans

Means and Dylan Bundy will start the latter two games of the upcoming series in Tampa Bay, but Hyde said Saturday that he will be scouring the entire organization for Monday’s starter.

Luis Ortiz is one option who has already been called up from Norfolk to make a start spot this year, and he’ll be on regular rest for Monday. That being said, Hyde did not rule going outside the box to find a starter.

“We’re looking at the whole to see what we’re going to do,” Hyde said. “We’re not sure what we are going to do.”