Eflin’s strong start, Mountcastle’s steal of home key Orioles’ 2-1 win over White Sox

BALTIMORE–What happened? Because of a dire weather forecast, the Orioles moved up their game against the Chicago White Sox from 7:05 p.m. to 4:30, and despite the short notice 22,108 fans showed up at Oriole Park, many to claim their souvenir bowling shirts.

Zach Eflin (4-2) started for the Orioles and worked seven scoreless innings, allowing four hits with a walk and six strikeouts in the 2-1 win over the White Sox.

The Orioles (20-36) scored twice in the sixth.

Ramón Urías’ sacrifice fly drove in one run. Ryan Mountcastle and Ryan O’Hearn pulled off an unlikely double steal for another run. Mountcastle’s steal of home was the first since Cedric Mullins did it on August 12^th, 2021.

Chicago (18-39) started Jared Shuster as an opener, and after five batters, he was replaced by Sean Burke (3-6), who pitched four scoreless innings.

In the sixth, Adley Rutschman led off with a single. Gunnar Henderson’s double sent him to third. Mountcastle reached on an infield single to load the bases.

Ryan O’Hearn bounced to second and Rutschman was forced out at home. Urías flied to right, allowing Henderson to score. With Emmanuel Rivera at bat, O’Hearn broke for second, and Mountcastle broke for home as Chicago catcher Edgar Quero threw toward second. Mountcastle beat the throw home for a 2-0 lead.

“We do our homework and we kind of pick our spots as we watch the game unfold,” interim manager Tony Mansolino said. “Sometimes you have to smart risks, I guess … We had an idea of what they’d do. We took a shot, and it worked out.”

O’Hearn, who did not have a stolen base in his first five years with Kansas City, now has 11 steals in 15 attempts and was part of a double steal.

“I feel like usually if it’s a steal-and-stop situation like that with the guy on third, usually they just fake the throw or they throw to third or something and then you just casually go to second and it’s no big deal,” O’Hearn said.  “But when it works out like that, that’s awesome. Great call by Manso to get us that extra run there.”

Mountcastle left the game after seven innings with right hamstring discomfort. Mansolino said that Mountcastle will be reevaluated on Saturday.

O’Hearn moved from right field to first, and Cooper Hummel, who was re-signed before the game, became the 45^th player used by the Orioles this season when he played right. He struck out in his first Orioles’ at-bat.

Eflin allowed one baserunner in the first five innings. Lenyn Sosa singled, and was out when Josh Rojas hit into a double play. Eflin faced the minimum 15 batters through five.

Quero and Sosa began the sixth with singles. Quero was picked off by Rutschman, and Eflin didn’t allow Sosa to score. Miguel Vargas singled with one out in the seventh, and Eflin walked Andrew Benintendi with one out. Luis Robert and Joshua Palacios struck out, ending the seventh.

Bryan Baker pitched a spotless eighth, and Félix Bautista allowed a run on two hits in the ninth. Mike Tauchman and Andrew Benintendi both doubled. Robert, who had struck out three times, walked, and Palacios struck out, as Bautista recorded his ninth save.

“He’s been a little inconsistent here lately,” Mansolino said. “I think that’s fair to say … That could have gone south real quick. He hung in there. He battled. He got the big out when we needed it, and here we are with the win.”

How did Eflin throw? Eflin’s seven innings were his longest start since September 1^st. In his previous two starts, he allowed 13 runs, 12 earned, in 10 1/3 innings. Things were different in this start.

“I think, for the most part, command,” he said. “Being able to get ahead of guys and I had a pretty good sinker today, so was able to get some soft contact early in the count and kind of get through four or five pretty efficiently.

“I thought Rutsch called a great game. Really just following his lead the whole time and doing my best to execute pitches and defense played a huge part. Rutsch was awesome in the sixth by getting that lead out at second. That’s such a huge momentum shift for us. But defense played great. Offense did what we needed to do to win the game and bullpen shut it down.”

What does it mean? The Orioles won the game by using small ball and a rare double steal.

“It’s what we can do,” Henderson said. “Just guys getting comfortable in those spots. And I feel like we’ve been a little, I guess, uncomfortable, for just trying to do too much in certain situations. And we just need to get back to doing that. You saw tonight, runs were hard to come by, but we had strung together that inning, played a little small ball to steal that extra run, and it ended up being huge in the ninth there.”

What’s the stat of the day? Henderson is the sixth Oriole with 400 hits before his 24^th birthday, joining Manny Machado, Cal Ripken Jr., Eddie Murray, Boog Powell and Brooks Robinson.

What’s the word? “Those are some of the all-time greats. And, yeah, like you said, being in a sentence with them is pretty special and something that I’ll hold dear to me.”-Henderson on reaching 400 hits before turning 24.

What’s next? Dean Kremer (4-5, 5.02) will face Davis Martin (2-5, 3.45) at 4:05 p.m. on Saturday.

Call for questions: Most weekdays, I’ll be answering at least one Orioles question. Please send yours to: Rich,@BaltimoreBaseball.com