The fate of the Orioles’ season is probably already sealed. They appear to be trade deadline sellers who will instead regroup to focus on competing in 2026.<\/p>\n
But that does not mean all is lost over the next two months. If more everyday veterans are to be dealt, the players who remain will be benefactors.<\/p>\n
Such is the case for two of the biggest contributors to the Orioles’ 5-1 win over the Colorado Rockies on Sunday to take the three-game set. Coby Mayo\u2019s role would expand if those in front of him are traded. And Tyler O\u2019Neill, the club\u2019s most expensive free agent signing who was injured for much of the first-half disaster, bears responsibility for why the team is in last place in the American League East and would surely love a chance to recover and for some of that weight to be lifted.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019ll be some adversity throughout the week, without a doubt,\u201d interim manager Tony Mansolino said before Sunday\u2019s game when asked what he thinks the next few days will bring. \u201cI think as we lose players that we love and have helped us for a couple years win a lot of games, there\u2019s going to be some tough hugs and some tough goodbyes.\u201d<\/p>\n
The ones giving those embraces will be tasked with providing reasons for optimism in the coming weeks for next season. That started Sunday with Mayo, who went 1-for-3 with a double in the second inning that put him and Cedric Mullins in scoring position. Dylan Carlson brought both of them home on a single to give the Orioles a lead they would not relinquish. In the third inning, O\u2019Neill homered for the third consecutive game to raise his season on-base-plus-slugging percentage to .724 and make it 4-1. Tomoyuki Sugano\u2019s six-inning, one-run, eight-strikeout outing did the rest.<\/p>\n
Mayo is hitting .273 over his past 14 games, a stretch that\u2019s occurred despite inconsistent playing time. The Orioles have made known they\u2019d rather this than the alternative: playing every day in Triple-A. And Mayo is beginning to prove why.<\/p>\n
“I\u2019m just trying to stay on my backside a little bit longer,” he said. “Not try to jump so much at the ball sometimes. I think I get into trouble when I do that, and I think I\u2019m seeing the ball a little bit better. Making better swing decisions. Just a little bit of that contributes a lot.”<\/p>\n
O\u2019Neill has taken a different path this season, but one that\u2019s been just as mired in frustration. The outfielder has missed more games than he\u2019s played in the first year of a deal that could keep him in Baltimore through 2027. It wasn\u2019t the first impression he hoped to make<\/a>.<\/p>\n Mansolino sees a lot of himself in O’Neill. The former minor leaguer, despite admitting he “wasn’t a very good one,” he joked, remembers stretches he went on akin to O’Neill’s. Only they lasted for much shorter lengths of time and were oftentimes cold streaks rather than hot ones.<\/p>\n “The few times I swung the bat good, I got hot, and it mattered,” Mansolino said. “Confidence is a thing. We are not robots. Human beings have confidence. It really changes the game in so many ways. As crazy as it sounds, a ball that you bloop in and you get a hit, you get a little confidence, and then you hit a ball hard, you get a little confidence, and then you feel completely differently. It\u2019s a real thing.”<\/p>\n “We knew he could do it,” Gunnar Henderson added. “We knew it was only a matter of time. Just getting on the field and getting reps, and that was I feel like the biggest thing, was just getting out there.”<\/p>\n He\u2019s doing his best to erase the poor introduction to Baltimore, even if the team is falling further out of the playoff race. O\u2019Neill had a .868 OPS and six extra-base hits in 12 games in July before Sunday. His .535 slugging percentage this month entering the series finale leads the team as he looks to redefine his frustrating season.<\/p>\n After Sugano, Yennier Cano, Andrew Kittredge and Seranthony Dom\u00ednguez were asked to go the final three innings without F\u00e9lix Bautista and Gregory Soto, who completed the only save opportunity since Bautista landed on the injured list before being traded on Friday to the New York Mets<\/a>. The trio tossed clean seventh, eighth and ninth frames, respectively, to seal Baltimore’s first series victory since the All-Star break.<\/p>\n It was no longer a save situation for Dom\u00ednguez after Henderson scored from second base on a wild pitch in the eighth in a display of awareness and quickness perhaps only Henderson possesses. And in the top of the ninth, the shortstop fielded a weak grounder barehanded, turned and threw to first to help complete the win in another play that Henderson routinely makes look simple.<\/p>\n “Those are the types of players I want my kids to watch,” said Mansolino, who hits grounders to his two children on the Camden Yards infield before most games and joked Sunday morning he doesn\u2019t want his boys to develop the bad, lackadaisical habits some major leaguers exhibit. “You don\u2019t see people doing that.”<\/p>\n