With Deadline nearing, 'banded together' O's boost case for buyer status

BALTIMORE -- As the July 31 Trade Deadline continues to draw closer -- giving Baltimore general manager Mike Elias a difficult decision regarding how his front office should operate -- the Orioles are trying their best to persuade their bosses to keep the team together as they aim to make an improbable run to the postseason.

A series win over one of MLB’s hottest teams should help boost that case.

The O’s used a complete all-around performance to notch a 5-1 victory in the finale against the Rays on Sunday afternoon at Camden Yards. Baltimore (36-47) bookended the set with wins, as it opened the series with a 22-8 rout on Friday before taking an 11-3 loss on Saturday.

Entering the weekend, Tampa Bay (47-37) had been an MLB-best 25-9 since May 20.

“Every divisional series win is beneficial and advantageous down the road,” right-hander Dean Kremer said. “If we get into a spot where we’re competing for a Wild Card spot, we get to hold it over their head down the stretch. So it’s big winning all of our divisional games.”

The Rays’ bats were cooled off by Kremer, who tossed seven scoreless innings and cruised for most of his 93-pitch outing. The 29-year-old right-hander allowed only three hits and one walk while striking out six.

It’s the type of performance the Orioles need out of their starters more consistently in the second half of their schedule than they got in the first half. Injuries and rotation struggles -- Baltimore’s 5.29 ERA from its starting pitchers ranks 28th in MLB -- have been two of the key reasons why the O’s find themselves in such a hole.

Although the Orioles currently sit only seven games out of the third American League Wild Card berth, there are seven teams they would need to jump in order to get to that spot.

“This whole thing, it comes down to when our starters throw the ball good, we hit better, we play better defense, we win games,” interim manager Tony Mansolino said. “I think all 30 teams are that way. I don’t think it’s unique to us. As our starters go, we kind of go.”

That proved to be the case as the Orioles tagged righty Taj Bradley for five runs over 5 1/3 innings. Colton Cowser, Coby Mayo and Gary Sánchez all knocked RBI singles, while Ramón Urías and Cedric Mullins added sacrifice flies.

Cowser’s hit plated the game’s first run in the second, then the O’s added a pair of runs in both the fifth and sixth.

Baltimore also flashed the leather with a strong defensive performance. The best play came in the top of the eighth inning, when Cowser robbed Danny Jansen of a two-run homer with a leaping grab in left field.

The Orioles are 11-11 over their past 22 games. They’ve experienced extreme highs and lows during this stretch. On the positive side, there have been some resounding victories, none more so than Friday’s offensive outburst. On the contrary, some excruciating losses have occurred -- Saturday’s setback and a pair of blown leads on last week’s AL East road trip through Tampa and New York, to name a few.

“That’s the game of baseball,” Kremer said. “The hardest thing in this game is to be consistent and rolling with the punches, sitting on the highs and just putting the lows aside and moving on to the next day.

“We definitely feel when we win big and we definitely feel when we lose by a lot. But again, tomorrow’s another day and we’ve got to compete every day, you can’t just give in.”

However, .500 play over the next few weeks may not be good enough for Baltimore to avoid becoming a seller at the Trade Deadline. The club needs to get hot and build positive momentum, putting itself in a position to at least stand pat (or maybe even buy).

“Our guys have talked about our situation and where we’re at. They’ve all banded together. None of these guys want to get traded. They want to be here for a lot of reasons,” Mansolino said. “The whole thing is we’ve got to try to get to five games under .500, we’ve got to get to .500, just with where the American League is at. And I still think that’s within striking distance.

“We’re one good week away from hitting the next step in this progression.”