TAMPA, Fla. — Before Thursday, the last time an Baltimore Orioles manager pleaded Charlie Morton to eat innings, one of the worst losses in franchise history followed.

On Easter Sunday, Baltimore’s bullpen was gassed. Then-skipper Brandon Hyde didn’t hesitate when expressing what the Orioles needed. “Come on, Charlie Morton. Need you,” Hyde said. “We need to give some of these guys a break.”

Morton didn’t deliver. He allowed seven runs and couldn’t make it through the third inning, and the Orioles lost 24-2 to the Cincinnati Reds — the first of many rock bottoms this season.

Morton, the Orioles and their new skipper were in the same situation Thursday night after the debacle that was Wednesday’s 12-8 loss. “We need Charlie to go today,” interim manager Tony Mansolino said.

But this is a different Morton than two months ago, and it might be a different Orioles team. The 41-year-old veteran twirled a gem, pitching six innings of one-run ball to carry the Orioles to a 4-1 win over the Rays.

Colton Cowser propelled the offense with a three-run homer in the sixth inning, his third straight game with a long ball and his fifth since returning off the injured list earlier this month.

The bullpen that blew the game Wednesday after the Orioles led 8-0 — just the third time in franchise history that’s happened — rebounded Thursday with three scoreless innings from Seranthony Domínguez, Gregory Soto, Bryan Baker and closer Félix Bautista. It wasn’t perfect, as Domínguez and Baker escaped jams to preserve the lead, but Bautista had extra cushion in the ninth that he didn’t need to record his 15th save.

A scary situation occurred in the seventh inning when a 105 mph foul ball off the bat of Adley Rutschman struck Rays pitcher Hunter Bigge in the dugout. The game was delayed for 10 minutes as Bigge was placed in a neck brace and put on a stretcher before being carted off the field. The 27-year-old reliever gave a thumbs up, which garnered a standing ovation from the sold-out crowd at George M. Steinbrenner Stadium.

Baltimore improved to 32-42 after splitting the series with a Rays team that entered the week as the hottest club in baseball. To have a chance at making the postseason, the Orioles still have to win at least 60% of their remaining 88 games.

Instant analysis

Exactly 365 days ago, the Orioles clobbered the Yankees, 17-5, for as impressive a win as any ballclub could have. Since then, they’ve been a bad baseball team.

The Orioles have played 162 games — a full season’s worth — in the year since that win at Yankee Stadium. That victory a year ago improved the Orioles to 49-25 after winning 101 games in 2023. Their combined winning percentage from the start of 2023 through that win in the Bronx was .636.

That was the peak, and it’s been downhill ever since.

“You go back to last June, we were on top of the sport in almost every facet of the sport, including majors and minors,” Orioles general manager Mike Elias said a few days after firing skipper Brandon Hyde. “Now we find ourselves where we find ourselves. This has been hitting us all very hard, but it’s unusual for that to be so sudden.”

The Orioles are 74-88 since that win in New York. They’ve been crushed by injuries. Star players have slumped. Others have gotten unlucky. A few prospects have regressed.

This doesn’t mean the next 365 days can’t be better. But it does mean it should no longer be a surprise if it’s not.

On deck

The Orioles travel back to Yankee Stadium for the second time since that series last June. The last time they were in New York was during the penultimate series of the 2024 season when the Orioles clinched a postseason berth.

If Baltimore wants a chance to do that again later this season, it would help to play well against a Yankees team that’s lost six of its past seven games. It won’t be easy Friday as Tomoyuki Sugano (5-4, 3.38 ERA) goes up against ace Max Fried (9-2, 1.89 ERA).

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