SEATTLE — The adjustment from Adley Rutschman is small, but in the context of timing at the plate, the small can loom large.

For much of this season, the Orioles catcher used a toe tap as part of his load at the plate. Last month, when discussing his inconsistent start to the season, he said he “unconsciously” formed the toe tap during the winter but stuck with it because he found it a useful timing mechanism.

Well, when Rutschman recorded three singles in Tuesday’s series-opening win against the Seattle Mariners, the toe tap was gone. And on Wednesday, when Rutschman throttled a pitch 415 feet into the right-field seats for a game-tying home run, there was no toe tap.

The development was interesting, and coupled with Heston Kjerstad’s two-run triple in the seventh, it drove Baltimore to a 3-2 win, sealing the series before Thursday’s finale.

The close result supplied the Orioles with their fifth straight win — a run that has them daring to believe they can recover from their 24-36 record.

Rutschman said, when watching video of his season, he has noticed he’s not always consistent in whether he uses a toe tap. In recent sessions with hitting coaches, though, he is working on “being a little more rhythmic, just timing-wise.”

He didn’t commit to a permanently toe tap-less future, but the early returns are strong.

“He’s hitting the ball hard,” interim manager Tony Mansolino said of Rutschman, who’s playing near his hometown of Sherwood, Oregon. Rutschman had ample friends and family in the crowd. “He’s home. There’s something; you’ve got a lot of people in the stands and maybe the focus level goes up, maybe comfort goes up when you see Mom and Dad and friends. But he’s doing great right now.”

Rutschman, the former first overall pick whose selection gave direction to the rebuild in Baltimore, hasn’t performed at the level he expects of himself this season — and that carries over from much of 2024, when his production dried out.

Even with three hits Tuesday, he entered Wednesday’s game with a .214 average. It appeared that his timing was an issue. That is, Rutschman was early on off-speed offerings and late on fastballs, and, as a result, he didn’t hit either well.

The sinker from right-hander Emerson Hancock hung up in the middle of the strike zone, so it was an ideal ball for Rutschman to drive. He hasn’t taken advantage of mistakes like those much this season, though, so to see Rutschman unload on the pitch is a positive, even if it comes as part of a small sample.

Extending Rutschman’s results to May 15 provides a slightly larger sample, although he still used a toe tap in his load for much of that time. Including Wednesday’s homer, Rutschman has notched 15 hits in those 16 games (a .254 average).

“I feel like he’s been trending in a better direction,” Mansolino said, “outside of the couple games against the White Sox after missing a couple games from the foul tip.”

He isn’t alone in slumping. Kjerstad has faced a challenging stretch, both defensively and at the plate. His inability to reach a ball near the right-field line (Statcast considered the fly ball to have a 95% catch probability) eventually led to the first run off left-hander Cade Povich.

Kjerstad entered with a .195 average despite two knocks in Tuesday’s win. But he came through at a critical juncture Wednesday by driving a two-run triple into the right-field corner off right-hander Carlos Vargas in the seventh. Vargas had issued two walks amid two strikeouts to begin the inning. Then, with two outs, Kjerstad cleared the bases when he pulled the low cutter down the line.

“Got down in the count against a really good pitcher, and I was just trying to compete,” Kjerstad said. “Runner in scoring position late in the game. Trying to get the job done and get another run across the board.”

Those runs gave Baltimore a lead to hold. Povich pitched well, limiting the Mariners to two runs in 5 1/3 innings. He faced trouble in the fourth — beginning with Cal Raleigh’s leadoff double to elude a sliding Kjerstad — but minimized that to one run.

Mansolino credited Povich’s ability in the fourth to remain aggressive despite having runners on the corners with no outs.

“Winning baseball for me is not trying to save every single run,” Mansolino said “It’s understanding when to attack the zone, which is what Cade did tonight and it paid dividends for us.”

Added Povich: “That’s kind of been the thing with the bad starts this year. Letting innings like that slip away. Instead of one run, it’s maybe three, four or even five. Just going on the attack and limiting it to one was huge, and I think a big step forward as far as the stuff I’ve been working on.”

Povich lost his command in the sixth, though, by hitting the leadoff man and walking the next batter. It immediately turned into a run when Raleigh singled. Right-hander Yennier Cano, who entered with a man on third, got out of the mess when he induced a ground ball to shortstop Gunnar Henderson that turned into a forceout at the plate.

And from there right-hander Seranthony Domínguez, left-hander Gregory Soto and right-hander Félix Bautista posted zeroes — although the ninth was stressful.

Bautista, pitching for the fourth time in five games — his most concentrated usage since returning from elbow surgery — allowed an infield single and a walk. And, with two on and two outs, a hard-hit fly ball from Rowdy Tellez rightly drew the T-Mobile Park crowd to its feet.

It stayed in the yard, though, and Baltimore could exhale.

For all the struggles of this season, the past week has brought a more positive emotion to the clubhouse. It will heighten if Rutschman — now toe tap-less — can turn this year into a more productive one.

“It just feels like things are flowing a little bit,” Rutschman said. “Our guys are playing together, picking each other up, and that’s kind of what we’ve done the last two years and it feels nice to play some games where things are coming together.”

This article has been updated.