Seven years after throwing his last pitch in the major leagues, 34-year-old journeyman Albert Suárez took the ball as a spot starter for the Orioles on Wednesday and pitched 5 2/3 scoreless innings to help Baltimore beat the Minnesota Twins, 4-2.
As it turned out, it wasn’t the most dramatic moment of the afternoon as center fielder Cedric Mullins hit his first career walk-off home run — a two-run blast to right — in the bottom of the ninth inning to complete the Orioles’ three-game sweep.
“It’s definitely something that’s hard to accomplish,” Mullins said of the achievement. “I wasn’t trying to do too much there. [Ryan Mountcastle] got us going with a single. I was trying to follow up with another single. I was able to get a pitch I could hit and put it over.”
Pitching in place of Tyler Wells after he landed on the 15-day injured list with elbow inflammation Tuesday, Suárez was nearly unhittable. He averaged 95.9 mph on his fastball and racked up 14 swings-and-misses with four strikeouts. The burly right-hander joined the Orioles on a minor league deal in the fall and spent the past six months reworking his mechanics to throw harder.
After never throwing a pitch faster than 96.6 mph during his tenure with the San Francisco Giants, for whom he posted a 4.51 ERA and 1.29 WHIP over 40 appearances from 2016 to 2017, 10 of his 75 pitches Wednesday were above that speed.
“I think I’m enjoying this moment more than the first time I got called up,” Suárez said, referencing his first career start on May 8, 2016. “It’s amazing for me. A good feeling to be here.”
Before Mullins broke through in the ninth, the Orioles (12-6) scored their first two runs on solo homers. Shortstop Gunnar Henderson took Twins starter Pablo López deep to center field in the Orioles’ first at-bat of the game for his third homer in as many games. The reigning American League Rookie of the Year is already up to six home runs in 18 games this season after needing 51 contests to reach that number a year ago.
Designated hitter Anthony Santander swatted the other over the right-center field fence for a game-tying blast in the seventh. The Orioles have now hit at least three home runs in five straight games, tied for the second-longest such streak by any team since 1900 behind only the 1987 Orioles.
On the heels of an 11-run outburst Tuesday, Henderson’s blast looked like it might spark another big game for Baltimore. However, López settled in to retire 18 of the next 19 hitters he faced to get through six innings. It wasn’t until the Twins handed the game to their bullpen that the Orioles finally started to get their bats going.
As impressive as López was, he was outdueled by an opposing starter who was pitching in his first MLB game in 2,395 days. Suárez had stints in Japan’s Nippon Baseball League, the Korean Baseball Organization and the Venezuelan Winter League and spent the latter half of the 2023 season at the Orioles’ spring training complex in Sarasota, Florida, before re-signing with the club over in the offseason.
After already having developed a reputation for reviving the careers of veteran players discarded by the other organizations, the Orioles seemingly found another reclamation project in Suárez capable of pitching at a level higher than he had previously displayed at the professional level.
“I just want to give credit to our pro scouting department, front office,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “That’s an amazing sign right there. Helped us win a major league baseball game and looks outstanding. So, to go out and find someone like that that’s [34 years old] and hasn’t pitched in the big leagues since 2017 and go have that kind of performance. … I think he threw 4 1/3 [innings] his last start [in Triple-A] or his last time out and he goes out and goes into the sixth inning against a major league baseball team. Just a credit to everybody there.”
Suárez became the first pitcher to go at least 5 2/3 innings without allowing a run in his Orioles debut since Jeremy Hellickson pitched seven scoreless in 2017. The crowd of 15,860 at Camden Yards recognized his achievement with a standing ovation after Hyde, who couldn’t help but smile as he approached the mound, pulled Suárez in the sixth.
“When you have faith, and you’ve been working so hard to get back and it happens, all I can think of is keep working hard and good things is going to happen,” Suárez said.
Suárez gave way to left-hander Danny Coulombe, who stranded a runner at first to get through the frame but couldn’t finish the seventh before Hyde went back to the bullpen. Right-hander Jacob Webb, who had the most days of rest of any Orioles reliever, entered the game with a runner on first and one out in the seventh and allowed the tying and go-ahead runs on RBI singles by center fielder Austin Martin and third baseman Kyle Farmer.
After Santander’s game-tying home run in the seventh, Cano and closer Craig Kimbrel pitched scoreless frames to send the game to the bottom of the ninth with the score still knotted at 2. After Mountcastle singled off Twins right-hander Griffin Jax, Mullins, who has three homers in his past four games, blasted a 1-2 pitch over the fence. He was met at home plate with the new “hydration station” and was doused with ice water.
“This is Cedric Mullins,” Hyde said. “Yeah, he got banged up at the end of the year last year, but the first half, two-thirds of the year, this is what he did for us. He drives runs in, causes chaos on the bases, plays a Gold Glove center field. He’s just a huge igniter for our offense and awesome to see him get that home run.”
The victory is the Orioles’ fourth straight. They get a day off Thursday before opening a road trip with a three-game series against the Kansas City Royals on Friday.
Orioles at Royals
Friday, 7:40 p.m.
TV: MASN2
Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM
