Newest member of the Baltimore Orioles is an unlikely hero in his first game with the team

The Baltimore Orioles churn through waiver wire pickups and recently DFA'd bullpen arms like no other team in baseball. So it didn't turn many heads when it was announced that the Orioles were trading for Cam Sanders after the Pirates DFA'd him to make room for Jacob Gonzalez. After the trade, the Orioles immediately optioned Sanders to Triple-A, and it seemed like it was his destiny to follow in the footsteps of Kyle Nicholas, Eduarnial Nunez and many other Orioles trade targets who are acquired, sent to the minors and discarded without ever appearing in a game for the Orioles. That was not to be the case for Sanders, as he was recalled to join the Orioles for their first game after the All-Star break and, in his first game with the Orioles, was thrown directly into the fire.

The first game after the All-Star break is not more valuable than any of the other 162, but with the Orioles fighting for a playoff spot and just weeks to go before the deadline, this first game back from the break felt like one that the team needed, if they were going to stay in the race. The Astros are one of the teams the Orioles are up against for the last Wild Card spot, and the Red Sox had just won both games of a doubleheader. This was not a time to be giving games away. Which is why it was so surprising that in a one-run game in the seventh, with the bases loaded and just one out, with a fully rested bullpen that the Orioles turned to Cam Sanders to put out the fire.

The Orioles gave Cam Sanders a big opportunity in his first outing, he came through

Most of the players standing behind Sanders in the field had either just met him the day before, and many of them probably hadn't had a great chance to introduce themselves and get to know him. Any fan who didn't spend the All-Star break watching the Orioles transaction log like a hawk was probably thinking, who on earth is Cam Sanders? Any fan who knew about Sanders and his career 8.44 ERA already was probably thinking, why on earth is Cam Sanders in this game? Despite all of that, there on the mound stood Cam Sanders all the same.

Becuase Sanders had pitched just 16 major league innings, it's easy to go through his game logs and see that never before had Sanders come into a one-run game with the bases loaded. This was the single highest leverage spot he'd ever been asked to pitch in his baseball life. The Orioles had ground-ball specialist Yennier Cano available; they had bases-loaded wizard Rico Garcia available, and they went to Sanders.

Sanders rewarded the Orioles' faith in him with a strikeout of the dangerous Issac Paredes after a seven-pitch battle and then got Christian Walker to pop out to Adley Rutschman in a 3-2 count. An inning later, the Orioles took the lead for good on a Taylor Ward homer, and Sanders was credited with his first career win.

It will be interesting to see if Sanders can build off the momentum of this moment and become an Orioles pitching lab success story. The scouting report on him is that he has good stuff but a tendency to walk the yard when he's going bad. In this outing, he showed off the good stuff, drawing four whiffs on nine swings, which is great, but only five of his 14 pitches were in the zone, which could have gotten a little dicey if Paredes and Walker had been a little pickier.

Sanders threw four pitches with the Pirates but only threw his four-seam and his slider in this outing. It'll be curious to see if that was something that just happened or an adjustment that the Orioles asked him to make, with the idea that he'd be better as a two-pitch guy.

This could be the start of something great or only a memorable moment of Sander's Orioles career; only time will tell which.

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