Rutschman's blast punctuates long-awaited win for Mansolino

MILWAUKEE -- The nightmarish eight-game losing streak is over, and Tony Mansolino finally has his first win as interim manager after the Orioles’ 8-4 win in 11 innings over the Brewers at American Family Field on Wednesday afternoon.

But the victory didn’t come easy, with a couple of late blown leads that forced extra innings.

The O’s struggling offense erupted for four runs in the 11th, three of them on Adley Rutschman’s fifth homer of the season. The O’s sit in fifth place in the AL East with a 16-32 record, and had lost 14 of 16 coming in, including four in a row under Mansolino after he took over for 2023 Manager of the Year Brandon Hyde, who was fired on Saturday.

Mansolino downplayed the win from a personal perspective.

“This whole thing isn’t about me,” he said. “We win the game and everybody is congratulating me for the first win -- but I don’t really feel that way about it. It’s more for the players and the organization. The players have been through a lot here. We lost eight in a row and we obviously had the change in the organization.”

Rutschman’s late-inning heroics came three years to the day from his Major League debut.

“You hear it all the time but time flies,” the 27-year-old catcher said. “You only have so long in this game and it goes by quick. Try to enjoy every second of it and try to appreciate it and make the most of it.”

Rutschman made the most of it on Wednesday for a team desperate for a win. After Jackson Holliday’s run-scoring single gave the O’s a 5-4 lead in the 11th, Rutschman took a pitch from Tyler Alexander, the 8th Brewers pitcher, and drove it on a line over the left-field fence to provide a four-run cushion. It was his first blast in more than a month and it secured a long-awaited win.

“I was super proud of our guys today. Just to battle on the road, on a losing streak,” Rutschman said. “Just to be able to stay in there, keep going and keep putting runs on the board and pitchers being able to keep us in the ballgame.”

Rutschman said the season has been a test for the team to this point.

“You’re always going to get adversity over the course of a season but you never know in what form it’s going to come or when,” he said. “But we have a great group in this locker room and a lot of guys with high character and there’s no other group I’d rather be around.”

Rutschman said it was important to get Mansolino his first win, even if his manager insisted on downplaying it.

“[Ryan] O’Hearn was saying that we were getting him his first one today,” he said. “[Mansolino] is really humble. It was really nice to get a win in the fashion we did today.”

O’Hearn had four of the Orioles 14 hits on the day.

“It’s unnoticeable. It’s just how he is,” Mansolino said. “I looked up and I said, ‘How did Ryan get four hits?’ You just kind of get used to this guy every day. He just puts the ball in play. His numbers probably show that he’s been doing this all year.”

The Orioles surrendered one-run leads in the ninth and 10th innings before pushing ahead for good with the extra-inning offensive outburst.

Seranthony Domínguez, the sixth O’s pitcher, retired the Brewers in order in the 11th to nail down the win.

Bryan Baker, who pitched the 10th, was credited with the win.

Starter Tomoyuki Sugano, making his 10th Major League start, logged another efficient outing, giving up five hits and two runs in six innings. The 35-year-old from Japan has allowed three or fewer runs in nine of his 10 starts.

“As a team, we do have the ability to turn things around like this,” Sugano said. “I feel like every time I start that in some capacity the guys rely on me.”

Closer Félix Bautista blew a save in the ninth when he gave up a run and a hit while walking two. He pitched on back-to-back days for the first time this season. The All-Star missed all of the 2024 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery.

“I felt really good,” Bautista said. “My command hasn’t been there but I don’t think it’s because of the back-to-back [appearances]. It’s more because I didn’t pitch for four or five days before this. Sometimes you lose the rhythm a little bit. But part of our job is making the proper adjustments.”