Cade Povich Explains Next Man Up Mindset In Orioles Return

One night after the trade deadline stripped some of the biggest names off the roster, the Orioles went back to work and beat the Los Angeles Angels 3-1 at Camden Yards on Tuesday.

Baltimore sent star catcher Adley Rutschman to Boston on Monday and moved Taylor Ward to Seattle the same day.

A team that had been shut out in its last two games could have come out flat, but the group that stayed won the series opener instead.

Cade Povich was recalled from Triple-A Norfolk on Tuesday for his first big league outing since May 7, and he gave the Orioles six scoreless innings on seven hits while striking out seven, and he picked off two runners.

Grayson Rodriguez, a former first-round pick by Baltimore, went seven strong innings for the Angels, but the Orioles broke through in the third when Christian Franklin walked, Colton Cowser singled, and Carlos Narvaez was hit by a pitch to load the bases before Pete Alonso lined a one-out single to center that brought home two runs.

Coby Mayo tripled in the seventh but was thrown out at the plate, and the lead stayed at two until Vaughn Grissom's double cut it to 2-1 in the eighth.

Pinch-hitter Tyler O'Neill answered in the bottom half with his eighth home run of the season, a solo shot to left center, and Yennier Cano worked around a leadoff double in the ninth for his second save.

Los Angeles out-hit Baltimore 11 to 4 and still lost the game.

Narvaez was activated on Tuesday after coming over from Boston in the Rutschman deal, and he went straight behind the plate for the win.

Franklin, added from Washington in a smaller trade, made his major league debut in left field and finished with a walk, a stolen base and a run scored.

Mike Elias went on the MASN broadcast during the game and said Baltimore is not rebuilding, and Alonso said the front office told the players in a pregame meeting that the goal is still the playoffs.

Povich may not hold the rotation spot for long, since Chris Bassitt has made two rehab starts as he works back from a back injury, but the fill-in start showed the whole approach.

"For us as a team, we're just trying to stay together, stay as one, no matter who that is," Povich said, per MLB.com. "Guys have to come up when guys go down anyway. So, it's a little bit of that next-man-up mentality that we've talked about before."

Baltimore sits at 55-58, only a game and a half behind Cleveland for the last American League wild card spot, and two more home games with the Angels come before a weekend series in Texas.

Alonso keeps anchoring the lineup with 23 home runs and 71 RBI, and O'Neill delivered off the bench even though his season at the plate has been a struggle.

Nobody will call this roster better than it was a week ago, but the race is close enough that one good stretch changes everything, and Tuesday was the right way to start.