ARLINGTON, Tex. — The end result wasn’t a good one. Jackson Holliday was thrown out attempting to stretch a single into a double last week against the Tampa Bay Rays. But when those involved with the decision discuss the play, they see the vision — and the learning opportunity.

Holliday lashed a line drive single into shallow left-center field. Center fielder Chandler Simpson, one of the fastest players in the game, reached the ball quickly and fired a throw to second. Holliday, sliding feet first, was narrowly out.

At that point, the Orioles were trailing by four runs. He wanted to spark a rally in the third inning. “It’s a risk worth taking, I feel like, especially early in the game and we’re down and we need to score some runs,” Holliday said. “Maybe our best chance is for me to be on second.”

Interim third base coach Buck Britton said that, in later meetings, they discussed with Holliday that any baserunner on at all in that early-game situation would be beneficial, so that might not have been the right time to push the envelope. But make no mistake, the Orioles want their players to push the envelope as much as possible when on the bases.

When interim manager Tony Mansolino took over in May, he alerted his team to a new philosophy: Be aggressive on the bases. Heck, maybe even be reckless. He wanted to free the baserunners up to make mistakes — and by making mistakes, they’d either learn from an out or benefit from a close safe call.

So Mansolino wasn’t upset that Holliday went for second in that situation last week.

“I’m willing to watch Jackson Holliday in a 4-0 game, we’re losing by four, try to stretch a single into a double and get thrown out,” Mansolino said. “Everyone is going, ‘Don’t do it.’ I’m willing to watch that, because I know if I take that away from him, we’re going to take away all the other aggressive plays. We have to run the bases aggressively.”

Whether it was intentional or not, Mansolino referenced the Earl Weaver Special (the three-run home run) as an example of what the Orioles are not trying to do.

“Depending on how long I get to do this, if it’s here or at another place down the road, my vision for a good offense isn’t a three-run homer,” Mansolino said. “It’s not sitting on the three-run homer. It’s just creating havoc all over the bases.”

Nothing embodies Mansolino’s beliefs about baseball more than that last sentence, and it is perhaps the most noticeable difference between the Orioles of old under Brandon Hyde and the Orioles of new under Mansolino.

A significant rise in the standings hasn’t occurred. In baserunning statistics, however, Baltimore’s philosophy has completely switched.

From opening day to May 16, the last game of Hyde’s tenure, the Orioles ranked last in the majors with a negative-2.8 grade in FanGraphs’ all-encompassing baserunning statistic, which tracks steals, outs and advances, such as first-to-third sprints. From May 17 through June 30, FanGraphs graded Baltimore’s baserunning at 1.8, sixth-best in the majors.

The stolen base increase is as noticeable, jumping from 24 steals (25th in baseball) under Hyde to 34 steals (tied fifth) under Mansolino.

Mansolino is quick to credit first base coach Anthony Sanders, who “we’ve cut loose a little bit,” and Britton’s work as third base coach. But it stems from one of Mansolino’s immediate goals: putting pressure on the defense in various ways.

“That was one of the messages whenever he took over: run out of control, be super aggressive, and we’ll reel you back in, if need be,” Holliday said. “Everybody has the green light.”

Mansolino has also freed Britton to be aggressive when sending runners to the plate. This isn’t entirely new for Britton. As manager for Triple-A Norfolk, he also served as the third base coach, so he understands the situational variables at play.

This is faster, however, and major league outfielders tend to have better throwing arms. The first day Britton took over as third base coach from Mansolino, the interim manager told Britton “that any mistake that I make — a runner gets thrown out, a bad send — he’s made 30 times.”

Still, the first week in that position, Britton was hesitant. When he was a minor league manager, a runner thrown out at the plate didn’t impact any other coach. But here? “You’re impacting the game nightly, and the wins and losses are going on his baseball card and he’s fighting for a job, just like everybody else,” Britton said.

“There’s stress in that,” he continued, adding that Mansolino “did a really nice job after the first week of saying, ‘Hey, be aggressive. Be smart, know the game.’”

It’s the same message most players received in the first few days of Mansolino’s tenure. There’s no other way to run an offense, in Mansolino’s opinion.

“Guys are buying in,” Britton said. “And the thing I really like is, he’s freeing them up and allowing them to make aggressive mistakes and then using those game situations to teach.”

In that spirit, Britton’s arm is waving runners more often than not, even on close plays. He said most of the time, his pre-pitch analysis helps him decide in a split second whether to take a chance. Britton looks at where outfielders are positioned, and he knows from pregame studies which players have the best arms, and whether those players are better when moving to their left or right.

“If you’re thinking, ‘Oh no, what do I do?’ It’s probably too late,” Britton said.

And then ultimately, it comes down to the runner on second. Gunnar Henderson and Holliday, for instance, are two of the best finishers on the team — a term meaning they excel at sliding into the plate, either eluding a tag or inciting enough contact to jar the ball loose.

All of that plays into Mansolino’s belief that an aggressive team is a good team. Even if it leads to a few outs.

“We’re going to be really aggressive on the basepaths,” Holliday said, “and kind of running reckless until they tell us not to.”