Orioles avoid sweep with 5-1 win vs. Phillies

PHILADELPHIA — Trevor Rogers delivered one of his worst performances of the season Wednesday afternoon. He tossed six innings of one-run ball.

His start Wednesday in the Orioles’ 5-1 win over the Phillies served as the latest reminder — as if another was needed — that this is just who Rogers is now. The southpaw didn’t have his best stuff, allowing eight hits and two walks, but he limited damage and escaped multiple jams to keep his ERA at a sparkling 1.44 through 10 starts this season.

“This outing was huge for me,” said Rogers, who joined Baltimore last summer at the trade deadline. “Couldn’t tell you how many times they stuck it to me when I was in Miami.”

He was also the recipient of two things Orioles starters have been lacking recently: early offense and an effective bullpen. Coby Mayo blasted a three-run home run — the fourth of his nascent big league career — in the fourth that gave Rogers a four-run cushion. Relievers Dietrich Enns, acquired last week in a cash trade, and Keegan Akin, now Baltimore’s best bullpen arm, combined to toss three scoreless innings against a Phillies lineup that battered the Orioles’ relief corps for nine runs in Monday’s 13-3 loss.

Baltimore improved to 52-63 with the win and avoided being swept for the first time since May 16-18 against the Nationals — the weekend Brandon Hyde was fired and Tony Mansolino took over.

“You walk in here against this team, especially after getting your teeth kicked in for two nights, it’s easy to lay down,” Mansolino said. “For the boys to go out there and do what they did, awesome.”

Jeremiah Jackson, a utilityman who’s become an everyday player since the exodus at the trade deadline, gave the Orioles a 1-0 lead in the fourth with a double off left-hander Ranger Suárez — his first career extra-base hit and RBI. The run ended the Orioles’ 18-inning scoreless streak after they were shut out Tuesday.

Mayo then clobbered a 421-foot home run, admiring it thusly, to boost his OPS over .800 since he started playing regularly July 25. Jackson Holliday provided an insurance run in the seventh with an RBI single to score Alex Jackson, who reached base on a double.

“We don’t expect him to become a star player right now,” Mansolino said of Mayo. “We expect him to become a really good player within the next couple of years. … As long as he continues to build and work with our coaches, and work on the swing and be open-minded and get better as opposed to trying to be comfortable, then he will become what he can become earlier than not.”

The lone run Rogers (5-2) surrendered was on an RBI single from Trea Turner, who was a homer away from the cycle, in the fifth inning. The 27-year-old Rogers was excellent with his back against a wall, stranding eight runners on base. He’s allowed one or zero runs in seven of his 10 starts this season. The only MLB starter with an ERA better than Rogers (1.44) since his season debut May 24 is Rangers right-hander Nathan Eovaldi (1.03).

“He’s done a lot better than I think a lot of people thought he could be, and maybe even himself,” Mayo said. “But he’s a really good pitcher and when he’s on the mound, you know we’re gonna get a good outing.”

Postgame analysis

Colton Cowser has looked lost at the plate over the past week. The 2024 American League Rookie of the Year runner-up was 2 for 20 with 14 strikeouts entering Wednesday’s matinee.

“Just struggling right now,” Mansolino said pregame. “Trying to figure out the swing a little bit. He’s getting beat up. It’s real, he knows it, he’s going through it, fighting confidence right now. … We’re confident he’ll get out of it.”

Cowser, who declined to speak with the media after Tuesday’s loss, smacked a left-on-left double off Suárez in the second inning for one of his best at-bats in recent weeks. He hasn’t let his struggles at the plate impact his defense, making a leaping grab as he crashed into the wall Wednesday.

The Orioles need Cowser, perhaps their second-best all-around player, to get back on track before the season ends.

What they’re saying

Rogers on why the final two months of the season still matter even though the Orioles are out of playoff contention:

“I know every single guy in there didn’t want this to be the outcome breaking camp. But this is where we’re at, so really gotta just continue to stay together, keep playing hard, because I know if we start heading in the wrong direction, it’s going to be a long two months, and I know no one in that clubhouse wants that. … We’re going to keep competing, keep battling, until that Game 162.”

By the numbers

All four of Mayo’s homers this season have been mammoth blasts of at least 412 feet with exit velocities over 101 mph, according to Statcast tracking data. His big fly Wednesday was both his farthest and hardest-hit homer at 421 feet and 108.5 mph.

Mayo stumbled during his first few stints in the big leagues, but he said he’s more comfortable now because of his communication with the coaching staff and not having to worry about being in the lineup.

“They’re constantly telling me, ‘You suck today, you’re gonna be playing tomorrow, you suck that day, you’re gonna play the next day,' ” Mayo said.

“They’re not putting any pressure on me whatsoever,” he added. “And they know what kind of player I am and what kind of player I can be in this league.”

On deck

After a day off Thursday, the Orioles will begin a three-game series Friday against one of the few teams in the AL with a worse record than them. The Athletics come to town to face Baltimore starting pitchers Tomoyuki Sugano, Brandon Young and Cade Povich.

Around the horn

— Tyler O’Neill, who injured his wrist in Tuesday’s loss, will get more imaging Thursday before the team makes a decision whether he needs to be placed on the injured list, Mansolino said. If O’Neill does go on the IL, it would be his third placement this season and 17th in his eight-year MLB career.

— Vimael Machín flew from Norfolk, Va., to Philadelphia on Wednesday morning to join the Orioles’ medical taxi squad as a potential replacement for O’Neill. Machín, a spring training standout, was hitting .294 with an .835 OPS in Triple-A this season. He last appeared in the major leagues with the Phillies in 2023.

— Shortstop Jorge Mateo (hamstring) and Gary Sánchez (knee) could both be back in September. Mateo has been running and is expected to return before Sánchez. Mateo has been out since early June, while Sánchez last played in early July.