BALTIMORE (AP) — Orioles manager Brandon Hyde can now fill out a lineup with all sorts of different combinations.
Lately, everything’s been working for Baltimore.
“We just have a lot of options,” Hyde said. “When you have five guys on the bench and you have multiple switch-hitters and you have right-left situations, I have way more options than I’ve ever had before.”
Gunnar Henderson homered to start a two-run seventh inning for Baltimore, and the Orioles rallied from an early four-run deficit to win their seventh straight game, 6-5 over the Miami Marlins on Saturday night.
Anthony Santander put Baltimore ahead with an RBI single later in the seventh, and the Orioles are only two games behind Tampa Bay atop the AL East, even through the Rays swept a doubleheader at Kansas City.
Baltimore has matched a season high with its winning streak, which is the longest active run in the major leagues.
The Orioles are carrying only 12 pitchers at the moment, meaning there are five hitters on the bench at Hyde’s disposal. He used three of them Saturday and also moved starters around as the game progressed. Henderson started at third base — he made a huge barehanded play on the slow roller to save a run in the fifth — and eventually moved to shortstop.
Miami opened the scoring with four runs in the second, but the Orioles immediately answered with three in the bottom half. The Marlins led 5-4 in the seventh when Henderson sent the first pitch from reliever Huascar Brazoban (3-2) to deep right field for his 14th homer.
“We understand that no matter what the score is, we can come back and we can string together a lot of good at-bats,” Henderson said.
Brazoban allowed hits to four of his five hitters. Austin Hays, Adley Rutschman and Santander hit consecutive one-out singles to put the Orioles ahead. Yennier Cano pitched the eighth for Baltimore, and Félix Bautista worked a perfect ninth for his 25th save in 30 chances.
Mike Baumann (6-0) won in relief.
The Marlins fell to 21-7 in one-run games this year.
Miami’s Luis Arraez had four hits to raise his average to .386, and Marlins outfielders Dane Myers and Jesús Sánchez were able to stay in the game after a scary outfield collision in the first.
Miami starter Braxton Garrett allowed four runs and six hits in 4 2/3 innings, and Baltimore’s Kyle Gibson yielded five runs and nine hits in 5 1/3 innings.
Gibson allowed four straight singles to start the second, and the last two by Jean Segura and Joey Wendle drove in a run apiece. One out later, Myers hit a grounder to second, and rookie Jordan Westburg’s throw home was not in time to get Segura coming in from third.
Arraez made it 4-0 with an RBI single.
The Orioles quickly rebounded. Cedric Mullins hit an RBI single and then, after Mullins exited with right quad tightness, Jorge Mateo hit a line drive to center that Myers misplayed into a triple when he started moving in on the ball and allowed it to sail over his head.
“You ask any center fielder, the toughest read is the line drive right at you,” Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said. “He hasn’t played many games out there. It’s just the reality, and tough read.”
Bryan De La Cruz hit a sacrifice fly in the fourth to make it 5-3, but Santander answered with a run-scoring single in the fifth to chase Garrett.
MOVING UP
Jackson Holliday, baseball’s No. 1-ranked prospect according to MLB Pipeline, has five hits through his first two games at Double-A with Baltimore’s Bowie affiliate.
UP NEXT
The Orioles send Kyle Bradish (5-4) to the mound for the final game of the series Sunday. Miami’s Steven Okert (3-0) will serve as an opener.
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Follow Noah Trister at https://twitter.com/noahtrister
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