'Just got to compete': Ur¨ªas' blast helps O's cross 70-win plateau

ST. PETERSBURG -- The first MLB team to reach 70 wins in 2024? The Baltimore Orioles.

¡°I saw that,¡± red-hot rookie Jackson Holliday said with a smile, shortly after serving as a key contributor in the milestone win. ¡°That¡¯s pretty awesome.¡±

Another quality start by ace Corbin Burnes, another home run from Holliday and a late go-ahead homer by Ram¨®n Ur¨ªas led the O¡¯s to a 7-5 victory over the Rays at Tropicana Field on Saturday night. Ur¨ªas delivered the game¡¯s decisive swing, blasting a two-run home run during a three-run eighth inning.

The Orioles (an MLB-best 70-48) took sole possession of first place in the American League East, pulling one game ahead of the Yankees (69-49).

¡°Feels good to have the advantage again,¡± Ur¨ªas said. ¡°We just keep competing and are focused on our side.¡±

With Holliday and Ur¨ªas both going deep, Baltimore has an MLB-high 183 home runs, the same number it had all of last season. The two infielders -- at much different points in their careers -- sparked the rally that powered the O¡¯s late.

Before that, however, Holliday (MLB Pipeline¡¯s No. 1 overall prospect) led off the second with his fifth MLB home run, all of which have come since he was recalled from Triple-A Norfolk on July 31. The 20-year-old is the only player in franchise history to hit five homers over a 10-game span of a season before turning 21.

It was Holliday¡¯s first career left-on-left blast, as he jolted a 1-0 sinker from Tyler Alexander a Statcast-projected 408 feet and pushed the Orioles¡¯ early lead to 4-0. Four of Holliday¡¯s first five home runs have gone at least that far -- he¡¯s also hit long balls of 410, 424 and 439 feet.

¡°I¡¯m not trying to hit homers. I¡¯m just trying to hit the ball hard, on the barrel,¡± Holliday said. ¡°When that happens, good things, obviously, seem to be good outcomes. Just was trying to hit the ball hard, and wherever it goes, it just happens to be going over the fence at a pretty high rate right now.¡±

After Tampa Bay¡¯s Jos¨¦ Caballero hit a game-tying solo homer off right-hander Burch Smith in the seventh, Holliday opened the eighth with another impressive showing against a lefty. He fouled off three two-strike pitches from Colin Poche and worked the count full, before laying off a slider in the dirt to work a nine-pitch walk.

¡°That was one of the biggest ABs of the game,¡± manager Brandon Hyde said.

At that point, Hyde had several other right-handed bats on the bench he could have turned to to face Poche, who had a 0.86 ERA over 23 appearances since the beginning of June. But Eloy Jim¨¦nez and Coby Mayo stayed on the bench, as Hyde opted to keep Ur¨ªas in the game so his glove would remain at third for the late innings.

Ur¨ªas came through big with his bat, swatting a 1-1 fastball over the left-center-field wall for his sixth home run of the season. The 30-year-old, who went 2-for-5 after a 1-for-15 start to August, is getting more time at third of late with Jordan Westburg (right hand fracture) on the injured list and Mayo (Baltimore¡¯s No. 3 prospect and the No. 15 overall) off to an 0-for-13 start to his MLB career.

¡°I¡¯ve just got to compete,¡± said Ur¨ªas, a five-year big league veteran. ¡°It¡¯s not like it¡¯s given to me. I still have to perform on the field and help the team win.¡±

Burnes allowed three runs over six innings, but the 29-year-old right-hander was dominant early. He retired 13 of the Rays¡¯ first 14 batters and didn¡¯t allow a hit until Josh Lowe¡¯s one-out single in the fifth. That sparked a three-run rally vs. Burnes, who rebounded by working a 1-2-3 sixth to record his 19th quality start in 24 outings during his first season with the Orioles.

Seranthony Dom¨ªnguez worked a scoreless ninth for his second save of the year (and first since being traded from Philadelphia to Baltimore on July 26). The 29-year-old righty navigated around a one-out walk, as center fielder Cedric Mullins made a nice running catch on a liner off the bat of Brandon Lowe to end the game.

The O¡¯s notched their 70th win in 118 or fewer games for the 10th time in team history (since 1954). They¡¯ve done so twice since ¡®97, as they were 73-45 at this point in 2023, when they went on to win 101 games and capture the AL East title.

With 44 games to go, the Orioles control their own postseason destiny. But considering they¡¯re not satisfied with their recent performance -- they went 12-13 in July and lost four of seven to open August before winning two straight vs. the Rays -- they¡¯re not watching the standings too closely yet.

¡°I still don¡¯t think we¡¯re playing our best baseball,¡± Burnes said. ¡°I think that kind of showed a little bit there tonight. They came back and made that a pretty good game. I think we could have ran away with another one there.

¡°Before we can scoreboard watch, I think we need to take care of business and get back to playing our best baseball. I think we¡¯re close. But I think until that happens, we need to focus internally first.¡±