'Anything for a win': 101.3 mph HBP seals O's comeback

BALTIMORE -- Jordan Westburg’s week began with his first callup to the big leagues. It ended with him taking a 101.3 mph fastball off his left hand -- something he was actually happy about, to an extent.

The hit-by-pitch came with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning on Sunday afternoon and resulted in Westburg’s first career go-ahead RBI -- and game-winning RBI -- at a time the Orioles badly needed a lift.

“Anything for a win,” Westburg said later with a smile, his hand wrapped.

Thanks to Westburg’s HBP, Baltimore eked out a 2-1 sweep-denying victory over Minnesota at Camden Yards. After scoring only one run over their previous 27 innings, the Orioles rallied for a pair in the eighth against Twins right-hander Jhoan Duran to snap their season-long four-game losing streak. They also avoided being swept in a series for the first time since May 13-15, 2022, at Detroit.

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Baltimore manager Brandon Hyde is optimistic that Westburg (the club’s No. 3 prospect and MLB Pipeline’s No. 32 overall prospect) will be OK moving forward, although the 24-year-old infielder is scheduled to undergo testing. Duran’s heater was the third-hardest pitch to hit a batter this season and the 12th-hardest tracked since 2008.

Despite any soreness, Westburg still considered the plate appearance a success, because he achieved exactly what he was looking to accomplish at that moment.

“My whole goal going into the at-bat was to do anything to get that run across,” said Westburg, who was promoted from Triple-A Norfolk to make his MLB debut on Monday. “Anything to help the team get a win. And if I’ve got to take a hit-by-pitch, that’s fine.”

In doing so, Westburg impressed his new skipper.

“That’s a pretty tough kid,” Hyde said. “I’m sure he’ll take it, but a Duran handball is not too fun.”

It was the culmination of an impressive rally by the Orioles, whose only run over the first two games of the series vs. the American League Central-leading Twins was scored on an Adley Rutschman solo home run in the sixth inning of Friday’s 8-1 loss. On Saturday, Baltimore was blanked, 1-0, which was the same deficit it faced entering Sunday’s eighth.

Rutschman legged out a one-out infield single off Duran to get Baltimore going with its third hit of the day to that point. Then, Anthony Santander worked a nine-pitch at-bat for a single, which gave the Orioles runners on the corners.

Up next was Aaron Hicks, who had been mired in a 2-for-26 slump and didn’t enter the game until the fourth when he replaced Austin Hays (who departed with a left hip contusion) in left field. Hicks came through big, knocking a single to center and tying the game at 1.

A Cedric Mullins groundout speared by a diving play from first baseman Alex Kirilloff moved Hicks and Santander to second and third. Ryan O’Hearn drew a two-out walk (which was intentional after Duran fell behind, 3-0), before Westburg got drilled to cap the scoring. And then in the ninth, Félix Bautista struck out the Minnesota side for his 22nd save, capping four perfect innings of relief from Baltimore’s bullpen.

“This is a team that’s definitely going to grind things out,” Hicks said, “and those are teams that are hard to beat -- teams that are going to fight for every run and continue to try to come back and show that they’re not going to give up.”

The Orioles (49-33) managed to go 4-5 on the homestand, their last until after the All-Star break. They’ll close out the first half with a four-game series vs. the Yankees in New York, followed by another three-game set against the Twins in Minnesota.

Sunday’s winning rally may have been more gritty than flashy, but Baltimore hopes it will carry the momentum over to the road and get its offense rolling again during the upcoming week.

“I feel like we’ve been hitting the balls hard, and then just not getting results and struggling at scoring runs,” Hicks said. “Sometimes, you need to scratch out wins like this to kind of get you going. That’s what the hope is.”