Baltimore

Orioles

Henderson was the only one doing much of anything for the Orioles. He now has a .282/.367/.540 slash line and is up to 18 steals on the season in what has been another tremendous year.

Burnes had kept the Rays off the board for the first six innings before a two-run shot by Jonny DeLuca ended that. While the overall line looks good for Burnes, he struck out just three batters and posted just a 16 percent whiff rate and 22 percent CSW. He has benefitted from some soft competition of late, but this doesn’t seem like the version of Corbin Burnes we’ve seen in the past. The good news for him is the easy matchups keep coming with the Tigers up next.

It’s funny now to think about how the Orioles talked about Mayo being a second-half contributor before they knew that Jordan Westburg, Jorge Mateo, Ryan Mountcastle and Ramón Urías were all going to get hurt. The reality is that they have Nick Maton playing over him at the moment. He hasn’t even had a chance to fail offensively, given that his two major league stints have produced a total of 28 plate appearances. The Orioles just seem to have no confidence in him as a third baseman.

Coulombe, who last pitched June 8 before surgery to remove bone spurs from his elbow, is going to need to make at least two or three appearances in the minors. He had a 2.42 ERA in 29 appearances before going down.

Mullins gave the Orioles their only run of the day with a solo homer off Ryan Pepiot in the sixth inning. He was then pinch-hit for in the eighth with a left-hander on the mound. The 29-year-old outfielder is hitting .232/.302/.405 with 15 homers, 59 runs scored, and 26 steals across 428 plate appearances.

Eflin drew the matchup against his former team on Saturday. He surrendered a leadoff homer to Yandy Díaz in the first inning. Taylor Walls then took him deep for a solo shot to lead off the third. Three base hits would score a third run in the sixth before Eflin was replaced on the mound. He struck out four. The 30-year-old right-hander will take a 3.65 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, and a 125/17 K/BB ratio across 148 innings into a start against the Tigers in Detroit on Friday.

The Mariners claimed Vavra off waivers from the Orioles on Aug. 25, only to DFA him six days later. He declared free agency after clearing waivers, and this puts him back in the organization he’s spent the rest of the last four years with. The 27-year-old will return to Triple-A Norfolk. He’s hit .254/.331/.304 in 159 career major league plate appearances.

Kremer was excellent against the Rays’ paltry offense. He had pinpoint command of his four-seamer and left nearly all of them right on the edge of the strike zone. That pitch forced six swings-and-misses and beautifully set up both his splitter and curveball which combined for seven swings-and-misses. Kremer looks like a stud when he’s locating those pitches along with his sinker and cutter. He’ll have a chance to stay hot in his next scheduled start against the Red Sox in Fenway Park.

In a game starved for offense, Henderson’ blast accounted for the only earned run allowed by either side. He got the best of Shane Baz in his third at-bat when a 2-2 slider didn’t quite make it to his back foot and he turned it around for a home run. Henderson cooled for a moment earlier this summer, but has ratcheted it back up with three homers in his last seven games.

The Rays got the tying runs into scoring position after a single, error, and double-steal before Domínguez got Ben Rortvedt to pop-out and end this game. He dealt with some drama in the eighth inning too after his own wild pitch moved Jonathan Aranda to second base, but found a way out of both jams. He’s now closed out five saves in a row and has still only allowed runs via the solo homer as an Oriole.