Cedric Mullins hits for cycle with 3-run homer vs. Pirates

The Baltimore Orioles were clinging to a one-run lead when Cedric Mullins came to bat with two on and two outs in the eighth inning, searching for the elusive hit to complete one of baseball’s rarest feats.

Mullins drove Duane Underwood Jr.’s 1-1 changeup 376 feet to right field for a three-run homer to hit for the cycle and carry the Orioles to a 6-3 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday night at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

The 5-foot-9, 175-pound All-Star center fielder went 4 for 5 with three RBIs and two runs scored, recording a single in the third inning, a triple in the fifth and a double in the seventh before hitting his fifth homer in the eighth to break open a close game.

“He had good at-bats,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said on the AT&T SportsNet postgame show. “He got pitches to hit, and he didn’t miss them.”

The loss was the third consecutive and 10th in 11 games for the Pirates (21-18), who entered with a half-game lead over the Milwaukee Brewers (20-17) for first place in the NL Central.

The Pirates took a 1-0 lead in the third inning when Ji Hwan Bae reached on an infield single, stole second base and advanced to third on a groundout to short by Austin Hedges. When Ke’Bryan Hayes hit a bouncer to short, Jorge Mateo’s throw to home bounced past catcher Adley Rutschman and allowed Bae to score.

Johan Oviedo bounced back from a pair of rough starts to keep the Orioles scoreless through five innings despite allowing four hits and five walks before being tagged for an earned run in the sixth. Oviedo threw only 44 of his 86 pitches for strikes.

“He was effectively wild,” Shelton said. “I think he threw as many balls as he did strikes. When he had to make pitches, he made pitches. That’s a sign of a young kid growing up because of the fact that he didn’t have his best stuff, he scattered the ball a little bit. … It shows that when he doesn’t have his best stuff, he still has the ability to get hitters out.”

The Orioles had runners on the corners with two outs in the third and fifth innings, but Oviedo was able to escape both situations without giving up a run. He got Ryan Mountcastle swinging at a slider in the dirt to end the third. In the fifth, Oviedo got Anthony Santander to chase a 98 mph fastball outside to end the fifth, then spun and clenched his fist.

“We’ve got to keep pushing,” Oviedo said. “It’s a long season. We’re not going to let two weeks affect what we can do in the future.”

Mountcastle led off the sixth with triple that bounced past a sliding Connor Joe at the right-field line. The Pirates challenged the call, arguing it was a foul ball, but it was upheld after a video review. That came back to hurt them an inning later.

After Oviedo walked Adam Frazier, Shelton turned to the bullpen. Righty Dauri Moreta had inherited an MLB-high 11 runners without giving up a run this season, and got Austin Hays looking at a called third strike.

Moreta’s scoreless inherited runners streak ended when he threw a wild pitch that ricocheted off batter Gunnar Henderson, leaving catcher Hedges scrambling to find the ball and allowing Mountcastle to score and tie it at 1-1. Moreta limited the damage by getting Henderson to ground out to second and Mateo to line out to center.

The Orioles replaced starter Kyle Bradish with lefty Danny Coulombe in the seventh, and Joe crushed a 1-2 slider at an exit velocity of 110.4 mph and drove it 410 feet to left field for his fifth home run for a 2-1 Pirates lead. Bae hit a two-out single but was called out attempting to steal second. Bae appeared to beat the tag, but the Pirates were out of challenges because they contested Mountcastle’s triple and lost.

“If you go back and watch the replay, he’s safe,” Shelton said. “They said he disengaged off the bag, but from what we saw in the replay, he stayed on the bag.”

Going to their lefty reliever also backfired on the Pirates in the bottom of the seventh when Jose Hernandez gave up back-to-back doubles to Mullins and Rutschman that tied the score. Then an RBI single by Mountcastle gave the Orioles a 3-2 lead.

Shelton turned to Underwood in the eighth, only for Austin Hays to hit a leadoff single. After walking Henderson, Underwood got Mateo to ground into a double play but then walked Terrin Vavra to put runners on first and third. Mullins hit the three-run homer for a 6-2 lead.

“We didn’t execute pitches,” Shelton said. “We got matchups that we liked. We left too many balls in the middle of the plate.”

After striking out in his first three at-bats, Andrew McCutchen drew a leadoff walk against Austin Voth in the ninth. Carlos Santana singled, and Jack Suwinski hit an RBI single to right to score McCutchen to cut it to 6-3. That brought the tying run to the plate with no outs.

The Orioles turned to closer Felix Bautista, who struck out Joe, Rodolfo Castro and Bae to earn his ninth save.

“This guy is elite. I think we knew that. The ability to execute the fastball at 98, 99 and then throw the split off it,” Shelton said. “He came in and did a good job. He came in and executed pitches, and that’s what elite closers do.”