Baltimore — After 19 consecutive losses, the Baltimore Orioles were ready to try just about anything.
Newcomer Chris Ellis found that out while preparing to make his first big league start.
“I was sitting at my locker, kind of just going over the lineup for the day, and I saw Trey Mancini walking though there with a bunch of sage. Everybody was getting a whiff of it,” Ellis said. “Maybe we’ll have to start doing that before every game.”
The Orioles finally stopped their slide Wednesday night, rallying to beat Los Angeles 10-6 after a shaky start by Shohei Ohtani left the Angels’ bullpen with too much to do.
The Angels were up 6-2 in the fourth inning and 6-4 when Ohtani left the game after the top of the sixth. Baltimore scored a run in the seventh and five in the eighth. Ramón Urías and Kelvin Gutierrez drew bases-loaded walks to put the Orioles up 7-6, and pinch-hitter Austin Hays added a two-run double.
The Orioles were two losses shy of the American League record for the longest skid – which they set themselves in 1988 when they started 0-21.
“The clubhouse is loud right now. There’s a lot of people that are very excited, relieved,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “It’s good to hear our guys feel good about the game they just played.”
Ohtani allowed three homers on the mound and struck out three times at the plate, but the Orioles still seemed headed to a 20th straight loss after Brandon Marsh hit his first career homer, a three-run shot in the fourth that made it 6-2.
It was 6-5 when Jake Petricka (0-1) allowed a single, a double and an intentional walk to start the bottom of the eighth. He then walked Urías, his final batter, on four pitches to tie the game.
James Hoyt came on and struck out Jahmai Jones, but then he walked Gutierrez on a full count. Hays then doubled to left with the bases loaded, and Cedric Mullins added a sacrifice fly.
When Tyler Wells retired the final batter of the game on a flyout to right, he hugged catcher Pedro Severino and the Orioles celebrated casually on the field. The fans – many of whom probably came to see Ohtani – roared their approval.
“They really were behind us tonight,” Mancini said. “I’m so thankful and we are so thankful, especially after this streak, that they’re still so supportive of us.”
Mullins and Anthony Santander hit solo homers in the first, and DJ Stewart hit a two-run shot off Ohtani in the fourth.
“I feel like the homers were a little bit ambushed,” Ohtani said through a translator. “I need to make better pitches when they’re expecting the fastball.”
Jared Walsh hit a solo homer for the Angels.
Tanner Scott (5-4) won in relief for the Orioles.
Ohtani allowed four runs and five hits in five innings. Ellis yielded three runs and five hits in three-plus innings after the Orioles claimed him off waivers from Tampa Bay on Friday.
Mullins’ homer came on Ohtani’s first pitch of the game, but after Santander’s solo shot gave Baltimore a 2-0 lead, the Angels tied it almost immediately on a two-run single by Marsh in the second.
Walsh homered for Los Angeles in the fourth, and Marsh added his three-run shot later in the inning.
Mullins brought home a run in the seventh with a groundout.
Conner Greene, recalled from Triple-A Norfolk before the game, pitched two hitless innings of relief for the Orioles.