Baltimore finally got the one swing it needed Tuesday night. Adley Rutschman delivered a pinch-hit RBI single in the ninth inning, lifting the Orioles past the Marlins 9-7 and ending a five-game losing streak.
The win was built on a big night from Pete Alonso and Samuel Basallo, who combined to go 5-for-7 with three doubles, a triple, two walks, five runs and six RBI. Basallo was a homer shy of the cycle before Rutschman batted for him in the ninth and pushed Baltimore back in front.
It was the kind of game the Orioles have needed for days. Craig Albernaz said afterward the club was “locked in on every pitch,” and for stretches that was true enough to keep them alive against a Marlins team that looked just as flawed. Baltimore had been searching for a clean way out of its slide, and this one came with the game on the line, not in the first few innings when margins are easier to protect.
Chris Bassitt did not make it easy. He allowed four runs in four innings, a line that nudged his season ERA to 5.91. Baltimore also had its own issues at the plate, with Colton Cowser striking out three more times and Coby Mayo going 0-for-4 with a strikeout. The Orioles survived because the middle and late innings brought enough damage to overwhelm those holes.
The rotation remains thin, and that context still hangs over every win. Trevor Rogers, Dean Kremer and Zach Eflin were all on the injured list, leaving Baltimore short-handed even as it tried to climb back into the race. The Orioles are now 16-20 and one game back of the final American League wild card spot, a position that looks better than it did before first pitch but still leaves little room for another stretch like the one they just escaped.
That is what makes Tuesday matter. Baltimore beat an equally flawed Marlins club, but the result counted the same, and the difference came in the ninth when Rutschman’s bat turned a drifting night into a needed one. For a team trying to steady itself with injuries piling up, this was not a cure. It was a stop to the bleeding.