BALTIMORE — Camden Yards could smell blood in the water, but Adley Rutschman couldn’t bite.
With two outs in the fifth inning of a tied wild-card Game 2, the Orioles’ franchise catcher found himself on stage.
An Oriole occupied every base. Rutschman’s team had, earlier in the frame, tallied its first run of the series on a galvanizing, game-tying home run from Cedric Mullins. That blast sent an understandably frustrated home crowd into total delirium. The hysteria only grew in strength as the next three Orioles reached, loading the bases with nobody out.
After 13 innings of scoreless ineptitude, the impatient sea of black and orange had a reason to roar.