CHICAGO — The Orioles were walking the walk Friday until Adley Rutschman got sick of the free bases.
Despite walking eight times in the first seven innings, the Orioles struggled to score against the Chicago White Sox, as Baltimore trailed by two runs with two outs in the seventh.
But just as he did Thursday with his first career walk-off home run, Rutschman delivered in a pivotal moment. With the bases loaded, the star catcher roped a bases-clearing double to left-center field to give the Orioles the lead en route to a 6-3 victory.
The Orioles (8-6) loaded the bases and scored a run earlier in the seventh with three walks and an infield single. Cedric Mullins’ RBI walk was the Orioles’ first run of the night and their eighth free pass.
Rutschman came up against White Sox right-hander Reynaldo López and took the first two pitches for strikes. López then attempted to blow a fastball by Rutschman at 100.3 mph, but the switch-hitter kept his hands inside the low-middle heater and lined it 104.6 mph past center fielder Luis Robert Jr.
The double extended Rutschman’s hitting streak to eight games. He also walked in his first plate appearance to push his on-base streak to 11 games. The 25-year-old ended the night 1 for 2 with three walks and the three-run double. Rutschman has played in all 14 of Baltimore’s games this season, reaching base in 13 of them.
The Orioles tacked on two more insurance runs in the eighth after smacking back-to-back-to-back doubles with two outs. Left fielder Austin Hays started the two-bag party with a 110.5-mph frozen rope — the hardest batted ball of his career — off the left-center field wall. Shortstop Jorge Mateo then hit a double down the left field line to score Hays, and newcomer Ryan O’Hearn, who joined the team Thursday and had three RBIs in his first game, doubled to bring home Mateo.
Wells continues solid start
Despite the Orioles’ nine walks, the first five innings of the game took just over an hour to complete, thanks to MLB’s new pitch clock rules and a pitchers’ duel between Chicago’s Mike Clevinger and Baltimore’s Tyler Wells. The right-handers allowed just three hits and one run through five frames.
Clevinger pitched six shutout innings despite walking five and didn’t allow his first hit until the fourth when Ryan Mountcastle singled. Wells allowed a second-inning solo homer to Jake Burger, who crushed a first-pitch cutter from Wells over the left-field fence, but he retired 15 of the first 17 batters he faced.
Wells got into trouble in the sixth, though, by allowing four of the first five batters to reach base, including RBI singles by Andrew Benintendi and Eloy Jiménez. But right-hander Mike Baumann, who was transitioned from a starter into a reliever during spring training, bailed Wells out and stranded his two inherited runners. Baumann walked the first batter he faced but then struck out Yasmani Grandal and Lenyn Sosa to end the threat and keep the Orioles’ deficit at three runs.
Wells ended his second start (third appearance) of the season allowing five hits, three runs and one walk in 5 1/3 innings with three strikeouts. The start was just the fourth time in 14 games an Orioles starter has recorded more than 15 outs; veteran Kyle Gibson and Wells have each done it twice.
High-leverage Canó
Baumann wasn’t the only reliever to come through in the win. The bullpen’s newest addition, Yennier Canó pitched 1 2/3 innings of relief in high leverage situations and gave the Orioles what they needed.
With Baltimore’s starters failing to get through five innings in each of the club’s past three games, manager Brandon Hyde’s bullpen was another short start or relief meltdown from being overworked again. The Orioles on Friday morning recalled Canó, who they acquired in the Jorge López trade, after putting left-hander Keegan Akin on paternity leave.
Canó struggled in his brief time in Baltimore last year, but he was lights-out Friday — getting a double play when he entered with runners on first and second in the seventh and then retiring the side in order in the eighth.
Closer Félix Bautista then pitched a scoreless ninth to record his fourth save of the season. The outing was the first time Bautista has pitched on consecutive days this season.
Around the horn
— Kyle Bradish (bruised right foot) began his minor league rehabilitation assignment Friday in Double-A Bowie, allowing three hits and four runs (three earned) in five innings. He walked one and struck out five, allowing all four of his runs, including a three-run home run, in the fourth inning.
— Hyde did not say before Friday’s game who would start the Orioles’ two games in Washington against the Nationals next week. The Orioles on Friday morning announced that left-handed starter Cole Irvin had been optioned to Triple-A. Bradish is eligible to come off the injured list Wednesday, and Baltimore has days off Monday and Thursday.
