Calling the Pen: Orioles create a ray of optimism

Until Friday night, Chris Bassitt ‘s season had been more about words than actions.

Back in April, the 37-year-old right-hander criticized his fellow pitchers for being “too cute” and not being aggressive enough in their approach. Like another veteran who joined the Orioles this season, 31-year-old Pete Alonso, he seemed to be taking a leadership role. But Bassitt’s season was interrupted by surgery to remove bone spurs in his back, and he had made only 10 starts going into Friday night’s game against Tampa Bay, going 4-4 with a 5.27 ERA.

The team he left when he went on the injured list was much different than the one he returned to. Starting pitcher Dean Kremer, reliever Tyler Wells, and outfielder Taylor Ward were traded by president of baseball operations Mike Elias. So was one of Bassitt’s catchers, three-time All-Star Adley Rutschman.

When Bassitt was asked for his reaction to the moves, he expressed anger. But not at Elias, who has heard from an angry fanbase whose hopes for a turnaround season seemed to have little hope at several points this season, including in May, when the Rays dismissed them in three games.

“I thought Mike put a really good team together [at] the start of the season, and we didn’t hold our end of the bargain,” Bassitt said. “He did what’s best for the team. Obviously, you can argue, not now, but I mean for the future. I don’t have one ounce of so-called anger at Mike.

“I’m angry at myself. I’m angry at all the guys in here. We haven’t done a good job. We haven’t played a great brand of baseball. We haven’t played a clean brand of baseball …”

Bassitt backed up his words on Friday night by giving up just two runs in 5 1/3 innings in the Orioles’ 6-5 win over the Rays that was highlighted by a 4-for-4 game from their No. 5 hitter, Gunnar Henderson. Afterward, Bassitt expressed gratitude for his health and for Henderson, whose struggles have mirrored the team’s.

“So it’s hard for me to say I’d want anyone over him, because he just has the attributes that you need to be a really, really good player for a long time,” he said. “I’m happy that he’s obviously getting rewarded for what he’s doing. But again, I think it’s just kind of him falling back into himself.”

Those of a certain skepticism, including this guy, thought the Orioles might stumble on Saturday but instead they defeated the Rays in 10 innings, 4-3, even after Tampa Bay tied the score in the ninth. And they got a save from Cam Sanders, who has brought another strong arm to a bullpen that needed relief.

On Sunday, the Orioles throttled the Rays, 10-2, behind a two-out, seven-run rally in the sixth that might have been the most impressive of the season. Suddenly, they’re in the thick of what broadcaster Brett Hollander called a “muddled mess” for the third wild-card spot in the American League.

Every time I’ve been ready to count them out this season because of their inconsistent and sloppy play, Oriole writer Rich Dubroff would remind me of how many teams there are in the AL whose fundamentals are just as bad. Every time I’d look at their individual talent and wonder why it doesn’t fit together, they’d do just enough to keep me wondering if there might be more.

Now, they appear to be putting the pieces together, and at just the right time.

Bassitt began a string of three straight solid starts for the Orioles. On Saturday night, Kyle Bradish limited the Rays to two runs in six innings, and Trevor Rogers did the same on Sunday. The Orioles are 16-4 in games started by Brandon Young, who will face the Rays on Monday, and Shane Baz has been much better than his record. The Orioles don’t have a true closer but Sanders and Alex Hoppe have brought power arms to a bullpen that has another in Grant Wolfram but also has savvy veterans in Yennier Canó, Andrew Kittredge and Rico Garcia.

Henderson’s heroics on Friday have come on a weekend when Jackson Holliday keeps getting more comfortable in the field and at the plate, when Christian Encarnacion-Strand has solidified third in the absence of Blaze Alexander and when Colton Cowser and Coby Mayo continue to contribute in the roles manager Craig Albernaz has created. The same is true for Tyler O’Neill, who had the game-winning hit on Saturday night and is another power bat in a lineup full of them.

The biggest is Alonso, who has become a leader by example and deed, and whose acquisition I questioned after being excited about it when Elias gave him a five-year $155-milion contract in December. I thought his everyday play at first left Mayo in limbo and limited Albernaz’s options to play Samuel Basallo and Rutschman there when they weren’t catching or being used as the designated hitter.

But Alonso, through his grit, hard work and raw power, has shown me that he’s just the kind of veteran presence the Orioles needed. And Bassitt might provide that same presence for the pitchers. He offered this advice to his teammates about the trades.

“It’s more so trying to accept what has happened and then just move forward and grow together and try to hold each other to the highest standards and win a bunch of games and get in the playoffs.”