The O's needed a much better performance than Monday and they got it at Fenway Park.

The Orioles allowed 15 hits, four home runs and 12 runs. They hit 2 of 11 with runners in scoring position. Their bullpen allowed eight runs. They left eight men on base in just the first four innings.

Monday was chaos.

Tuesday was a step in the right direction.

If there was ever a night the Orioles had to win, this was it.

Not so much because of the math in the championship race, as the games were dwindling and they were 1.5 games behind the first place team, but they needed to clean up. They had lost three games in a row and fans were wondering if the AL East was slipping away from them. They were losing faith in their team. Confidence in the team was perhaps even waning a little.

After the Orioles' 12-3 loss in the series opener in Boston, Cedric Mullins said the morale in the locker room was “mediocre.”

He added: “It's not the best, but it's not terrible either. We got beat by a lot (on Monday), but the beauty of baseball is that we come out tomorrow and set the tone to move on.”

That's exactly what they did and the tone was just right.

Mullins hit two home runs in the first three innings. From there, Big Al Suárez took over.

Consider this stat: In his last four starts against AL East teams, Suárez has allowed one run in 23 2/3 innings in Toronto (Aug. 6), against Tampa Bay (Aug. 11), against Boston (Aug. 18) and last night at Fenway Park.

In seven starts this year against the AL East, Suárez is 2-1 with a 1.69 ERA. He has not allowed a home run in 37 1/3 innings against division opponents in 2024.

He's off to a great, quality start and the Orioles are 48-14 (.774) when they get a hit this season.

Mullins put the O's ahead with a solo home run in the first and a two-run shot in the third as the Orioles took a 3-0 lead. He had his fifth game with multiple home runs in the third inning.

In his last eight games, Mullins has struck out 11 of 26 batters, posting a batting average of .423 with four home runs, eight RBIs and an OPS of 1.454.

Adley Rutschman had a two-run single in the seventh inning that gave him a 5-1 lead, and that was big. In those two games in Boston, Rutschman was 3-for-10 with a double.

With this win, the Orioles are 30-18 against AL East clubs and now 8-4 against Boston. Last night's victory guarantees Baltimore a winning percentage of at least .600 against the Red Sox for the 15th time in team history and the first time since 2012 (.722, 13-5).

This quote is impressive: Before the game, reporters in Boston interviewed injured infielder Jordan Westburg, who said he was making good progress and his broken right hand was getting stronger. He threw grounders and balls before the game.

He also made some comments where I thought he did a great job showing leadership by admitting that the team is struggling and frustrated. Face the situation and admit it before you can change anything.

“Losing sucks,” Westburg said. “Morale is down when you lose, and that's been happening to us a lot lately. I won't mince words. We haven't played well in all facets of the game. So yeah, it sucks. Morale is down a little bit.”

“I think the guys are looking and putting a lot of pressure on themselves to turn things around, but deep down we all believe we're a good ball club. We have everything it takes to be successful. We have everything it takes to finish the regular season strong, and I think it just comes down to trusting ourselves and really going out there and taking care to deliver a good product on the field, pitch after pitch.

“If we get behind early, who cares? We're going to find a way. That's got to be the mentality. And if we're ahead, then we're going to step on somebody's throat. I think that's what needs to happen overall right now. It's got to be a little bit like, 'Okay, we don't care about the noise, we don't care what happens during the game. We're just going to find a way.' So hopefully we can do that.”

For one night, the Orioles got a much-needed win and began to erase the memory of Monday's nine-point loss. It was a nice step forward. Now they need to take more of the same.