1-2 punch from Ruiz, Cobb overwhelms Sox

Transformed at the start, cold through the middle and now scrapping to finish strong: What a weird season it’s been for Rio Ruiz. And that’s without mentioning his “classy mullet” haircut, another addition for the 2020 season. The Orioles' third baseman is ending it on a high note.

Ruiz was in the middle of the team-wide offensive outburst that led the O's to their 13-1 win over the Red Sox on Thursday at Fenway Park, where Ruiz matched a career high with three of Baltimore’s 18 hits. He singled home a run in the second, doubled and scored in the fourth, then doubled home another an inning later off Dylan Covey, doing his part to establish, extend and put an exclamation point on Baltimore’s second win in eight tries.

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“His ability to stay on the baseball is key,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “It’s a left-center-field approach, and he doesn’t get long and you see a different swing.”

Those runs were more than enough support for Alex Cobb, who fired a season-high seven innings of one-run ball in his 2020 season finale. The veteran righty struck out four and allowed six hits, completing seven innings for the first time since Aug. 18, 2018. Healthy again this year after missing most of '19 due to hip surgery, Cobb finished 2-5 with a 4.30 ERA across 10 starts in '20.

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“Coming off the surgery, my goal was to get feeling back to normal this year,” Cobb said. “There were some ups and downs on that path, but I think I finally found the direction I need to be in. I have something concrete to build off in the offseason and can come into next year strong.”

Cobb was aided Thursday by a wide cast of characters, with five Orioles enjoying multi-hit games and four posting multiple-RBI games. Ramón Urías drove home Ruiz with a double in the fourth and a single in the fifth. Pat Valaika, José Iglesias and Austin Hays went deep, with Iglesias connecting in his first game since last weekend due to a left wrist injury.

The result was a short evening for losing pitcher Martín Pérez, and the O’s largest offensive output in some time. They’d entered play having lost 12 of 15, averaging 1.9 runs per game in those defeats.

“I was really impressed with the amount of good at-bats we had tonight and the amount of hard contact. It had been a while,” Hyde said. “It was good to see some guys having some good nights.”

Count Ruiz among that group. Hyde admitted recently the difficulties the O’s will face this season in evaluating their young players based on this summer’s 60-game sample. Ruiz is an example of that challenge, having shown improved power but inconsistency on both sides of the ball. He’s hit .230 with 21 homers and a .694 OPS as Baltimore’s primary third baseman since the start of 2019, below league-average production in many respects. This year, his slugging and barrel rates are improved, but he’s also striking out more and walking less.

Then there is the curious case of his defense at the hot corner, which began at near-elite levels only to regress heavily over each of the past two seasons. Ruiz’s glove was a revelation at third in from Opening Day through mid-August, even after Ruiz dealt with a small bout of shoulder soreness. But throwing issues popped up over the season’s final month and his offensive numbers also leveled off.

“I just like when Rio stays closed and uses the big part of the field and uses the whole field,” Hyde said. “A lot of times, he gets big and tries to do too much. He has raw power that he didn’t have last year. He doesn’t need to generate like he was trying to last year. When his swing is short, it’s powerful. That’s when he’s at his best.”

So what does that mean going forward? There aren’t any high-level prospects banging on the door to replace Ruiz. But a positional logjam on the other side of the diamond could soon affect Ruiz, assuming Trey Mancini (colon cancer) and Anthony Santander (oblique strain) return healthy next year, Ryan Mountcastle remains a priority and Chris Davis and Renato Núñez remain in the fold.

That would give Baltimore five players for two corner outfield spots, first base and designated hitter. It’s not inconceivable to envision Nú?ez, who has played more regularly in the field this year, getting more time at third if it means freeing up at-bats somewhere for someone like Austin Hays or DJ Stewart. In any case, it should be an important offseason for the 26-year-old Ruiz, who maintains a Minor League option and isn’t arbitration eligible until 2022.

“For the most part, I feel like I have made strides,” Ruiz said. “But baseball players are used to perfection, and we want perfection. It’s hard not to nitpick at certain things. There are things I would like to work on definitely, for sure.”