Big hits, Cowser’s sprint speed, scoreless ‘pen work’ as O’s score two big wins

The Orioles’ last two wins were not only comebacks against an American League leader, but they were also impressive because of the team and the pitchers they beat.

Remember that:

* After beating the Orioles 6-0 on Thursday, Houston is 4-0 over the Orioles this year with a combined score of 33-13. They are 9-3 in their last 12 against the Orioles.

* On Friday, the Orioles won a game led by right-hander Hunter Brown, who had a 1.96 ERA in August, a 2.36 ERA since July 12 and the AL’s best ERA since June 1 at 2.33. On Saturday, they won a game led by left-hander Framber Valdez, a pitcher in the top 11 for the AL Cy Young Award three times in his career. Houston had won 10 straight starts by Valdez since losing to the White Sox on June 18, among all teams. Valdez was 8-0 with a 2.39 ERA in those last 10 starts. The O’s didn’t really let either pitcher shine, but they won those games against a hot team that started its hottest starters.

* Through Thursday’s win, Houston was 12-3 in its previous 15 games and 14-6 in its last 20. They had won nine straight away and were 19-9 in their previous 28 away games at Houston.

They were impressive comeback victories: the Orioles trailed 5-2 in the bottom of the eighth inning on Friday and 2-0 in the bottom of the sixth inning yesterday.

They scored 10 runs in winning those two games, and two bases-loaded swings produced seven of those runs. Yeah, pretty clutch from Anthony Santander and Jackson Holliday.

Holliday picked a great time to end an 0-for-20 streak, jumping on the first pitch from reliever Tayler Scott, who had a 1.92 ERA entering the game. It didn’t improve, as he allowed runs that all came from Valdez.

“That was my approach, just be ready (for that first pitch),” said Holliday, the youngest player to have a pinch-hit, extra-base hit since Juan Soto on May 15, 2018. “I tried to keep it simple. I hit something hard to the middle of the field and like I said on the field, I saw his changeup pretty well last night and was able to get a good swing on it.

“These are big games, they’re a good team and (we) struggled a little bit. Two wins in a row is obviously really helpful to build momentum. Three RBIs in a big spot like that is pretty awesome. An 0-for-20, to end it with that is special.”

Two nights in a row, outfielder Colton Cowser made a big play with his feet and speed, just before the big hits. He moved back to third base on Friday and hit an infield single yesterday to load the bases.

Valdez was late to first base and appeared to be jogging, not sprinting, on the play. If he had covered the bag in time, the inning would have been over before Holliday had a chance to bat.

But Cowser’s persistence and dive to first base paid off big time.

“Yeah, I would say that,” said Cowser, who circled the bases to score the third run on Holliday’s double. “You know, I think we’re at that point in the year where sometimes it can make a difference.”

Added manager Brandon Hyde: “Unbelievably hard work. Even though he’s 6’3, he can move. He smelled that hit the whole way. Great slide. Good ABs on that one too with Eloy (Jiménez) and Gun (Gunnar Henderson) getting us going.”

A player who runs at 30 feet per second demonstrates elite sprint speed, according to Statcast. Cowser was at 29.7 on that infield hit.

“It’s important,” Cowser said of using his speed. “Actually, Gunnar, watching me right now, we’re having a fight, well, not necessarily a fight, but he’s giving me a hard time because I haven’t hit 30 feet per second yet and I hit it yesterday. You know, I think that’s something that can change the game and I’m just going to keep working on it.”

For the year, Cowser’s sprint speed is a solid 28.2 feet per second. While that ranks seventh on the Orioles, there are three players currently ahead of him on the injured list: Jorge Mateo (29.9), Jordan Westburg (29.0) and Heston Kjerstad (28.4). But Cowser keeps good company, with Cedric Mullins just ahead of him at 28.4.

Perhaps lost in the back-to-back victories is the fact that the Baltimore bullpen, almost out of nowhere, has put together three straight scoreless games in this series in 10 2/3 innings. Before this series, the ‘pen had allowed a 6.43 ERA in the previous six games and eight homers in 21 innings.

But now, two days in a row against a good team, the Orioles have won close games with comebacks, clutch hits and solid bullpen work. It’s a nice turnaround for a team that needed it and now needs it more.

At 76-55, the Orioles are once again just a half-game out of first place, with 31 games remaining in the regular season.

Here’s a look at Holliday’s double play via the Orioles X account here and the last here.