Orioles’ Yennier Cano a ‘steady’ presence in back end of inconsistent bullpen

The Orioles’ bullpen hasn’t performed up to expectations lately, but the unit has a fail-safe.

Amid a disaster of a second half from their closer, a slew of injuries decimating their pitching staff and mixed results from their trade deadline acquisitions, Yennier Cano has been a source of stability for an Orioles bullpen that has sorely needed it.

He showed just how valuable he is for Baltimore on Saturday, when he stranded an inherited runner in the seventh inning and struck out the side against the top of the Houston Astros’ lineup for a scoreless eighth in the Orioles’ 3-2 comeback victory . Cano lowered his season ERA to 2.79 and his WHIP fell to 1.297 with the performance.

“He’s been really steady,” manager Brandon Hyde said of the 30-year-old setup man, who turned his career around in Baltimore after being acquired from the Minnesota Twins in a deal for Jorge López at the 2022 trade deadline. “It’s a mid 90s [mph] righty sinker that he gets a ton of ground balls with and with a good changeup also. He’s been wonderful the last two years.”

Cano’s outing Saturday was his 59th of the season, most on the team. Since the start of last year’s All-Star campaign, the right-hander ranks fourth in the majors with 131 appearances. He’s pitched exclusively in the seventh inning or later over that span, only recording 13 saves but taking on the toughest righty-heavy pockets of opposing lineups late in games.

“It’s been good for me that the manager has expressed that confidence in me because I know I’ve had some bad games,” Cano said through Orioles team interpreter Brandon Quinones. “But after those outings, he’ll come up to me and say, ‘Hey, don’t worry about it. Just go in there and get the job done next time.’ And for him to say that means a lot.”

Though the results haven’t been as dominant as Cano’s breakout season from a year ago, his command of the strike zone hasn’t wavered and hitters are struggling to barrel him up as much as ever. Cano entered play Saturday with a 65.5% ground ball rate, the third highest rate in baseball among pitchers with at least 50 innings this season.

He’s also shown improvement as the year has gone on. Over his past 20 games, Cano has looked the part of a dominant setup man with a 2.79 ERA and 17 strikeouts in 18 innings. He’s also walked only three batters amid that ongoing stretch, channeling the 2023 version of himself who posted a miniscule 4.6% walk rate compared with his 9.3% rate for 2024.

“The more I pitch, the better I feel,” Cano said. “I think that’s reflected in these last few outings where I’ve been in there a lot more frequently and I feel like I’ve been feeling a lot better and pitching a lot better.”

Related Articles

• Baltimore Orioles | Orioles prospect Coby Mayo has blueprint for getting back to MLB
• Baltimore Orioles | Gotta be Golden Tee: Jackson Holliday’s clutch double lifts Orioles to 3-2 win over Astros
• Baltimore Orioles | Orioles infielder Jorge Mateo’s status uncertain; surgery on dislocated elbow still an option | NOTES
• Baltimore Orioles | Nick Vespi has lived on the fringes of the Orioles’ roster. He’s ready for that to change.
• Baltimore Orioles | Nick Markakis, Terry Crowley join Orioles Hall of Fame together: ‘It couldn’t be more fitting’

Cano’s season has proven incredibly valuable with All-Star closer Félix Bautista out for the year after undergoing Tommy John elbow reconstruction surgery and his replacement Craig Kimbrel pitching his way out of a ninth-inning role. Fellow setup men Danny Coulombe and Jacob Webb have also been sidelined with elbow injuries, making Cano and Keegan Akin (3.46 ERA) the only healthy Orioles relievers with at least 20 games pitched to own ERAs under 3.50.

With Kimbrel still searching for some consistency , Hyde has turned to deadline acquisition Seranthony Domínguez in save situations. Domínguez has converted five of those opportunities, but he also blew back-to-back saves against the New York Mets last week. Should his streaky reputation from his time with the Philadelphia Phillies spill over down the stretch, Cano would be the obvious choice to take over as closer — just as he did last year after Bautista went down.

“I’m fully confident,” Cano said of his ability to pitch in save situations. “I’ve been pitching [the] eighth inning, ninth inning since last year. So, I know that I can go out there and get the job done. Unfortunately, this year, I’ve had a couple outings where it’s been a random base hit or a chopper gets through and they score a run here or there, and they tell me, ‘Hey, you just had bad luck.’ So, I still feel confident that I can go out there and get the job done and just be ready, whether it’s the eighth inning, the ninth inning or the first inning. Whatever the team needs.”