Ramón Urías homers to beat Dodgers

LOS ANGELES — Ramón Urías was a bit stumped on Sunday night. After hitting another home run in the Orioles’ loss to the Astros, the 30-year-old third baseman was asked when was the last time he had felt this good at the plate during his five-year MLB career.

“I can’t remember,” Urías said. “Honestly, this is probably the best that I’ve been feeling in the big leagues so far.”

It’s been showing — as it did again Tuesday, when Urías came up big at Dodger Stadium.

Urías belted a go-ahead two-run homer off Los Angeles starter (and former O’s teammate) Jack Flaherty in the fifth inning, lifting Baltimore to a series-opening 3-2 victory in a battle of heavyweight teams. By beating the MLB-best Dodgers (78-54), the Orioles (77-56) moved one game back of the Yankees (78-55) for the American League East lead.

Urías, who is hitting .300 (15-for-50) since Aug. 9, became the ninth Orioles player with 10-plus homers this season, the most of any team in MLB. He has driven in five of Baltimore’s six runs over its past two games.

“He’s been our offense the last couple weeks. Really good at-bats,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “We’re not swinging the bat great right now, and he’s carrying us a little bit offensively in some of these wins. And he’s playing with a lot of energy right now. He’s playing great.”

Flaherty, who made nine appearances for Baltimore late last season, turned in a quality start in his first career outing vs. the O’s, allowing three runs in six innings. However, the 28-year-old right-hander’s two biggest mistake pitches were consequential enough for him to take the loss.

Ryan O’Hearn opened the game’s scoring with a solo home run in the second inning, ending his 33-game homer drought with his 13th of the season — and his first since July 20. Flaherty’s 3-1 fastball was straight down the middle of the plate, and O’Hearn jolted it a Statcast-projected 376 feet to right-center field.

Urías’ homer marked the most important swing of the game. After Jackson Holliday hit a one-out single off Flaherty in the fifth, Urías followed with a 385-foot blast to left field. It was Urías’ 10th homer of the season, with five of those coming since Aug. 10.

Perhaps Urías’ familiarity with Flaherty allowed him to come up with a good game plan, as he waited to pounce on a 1-2 slider that caught too much of the bottom of the zone.

“I just was trying to see the ball close to me,” Urías said. “I know that he likes to throw up and in, and his slider works when he’s down and away. Just trying to keep it close to me. Got a good pitch right there that didn’t break a lot and I could put a good swing on it.”

It wasn’t where Flaherty intended to locate the breaking pitch, as he later explained.

“No, no, no, I’m not trying to throw it there,” Flaherty said. “Threw him a handful of good ones and just need to get it more to the outer half and get it down away. In there is where he can handle it, and he put a good swing on it.”

Baltimore needs as much offensive production out of Urías and O’Hearn as possible, as both have been taking on larger roles with infielder Jordan Westburg (fractured right hand) and first baseman Ryan Mountcastle (left wrist sprain) on the injured list. On Tuesday, they both delivered.

There are plenty of young stars in the Orioles’ lineup — All-Stars Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson, AL Rookie of the Year front-runner Colton Cowser and Holliday (MLB Pipeline’s No. 1 overall prospect) among them. But Urías’ play has been instrumental since he took back over as the everyday third baseman following prospect Coby Mayo’s tough debut stint in the Majors (1-for-17 with 10 strikeouts in seven games) earlier this month.

Urías doesn’t feel any pressure to step up for slumping teammates. He just wants to win.

“I feel amazing. I feel good for helping the team,” Urías said. “I think we all go through ups and downs during the season, because it’s so long. Just happy to have the win tonight.”

It was a strong start to a challenging series, one that could get the O’s rolling again and back into first place in their division if they come back out and keep winning.

“I think we’re in a prime position to get hot. Got some good ballclubs that we’re facing here to end this month, and we’re just trying to take care of business one day at a time,” said left-hander Cole Irvin, who allowed two runs in 4 1/3 innings. “I think we’re pretty excited about the group we have in here and what we can bring to the table every night.”