TORONTO — For two days and eight innings, Félix Bautista sat in the bullpen and waited to hear his name called.

After 19 months, he was finally healthy and ready to go, recovered from the Tommy John reconstructive elbow surgery that had sidelined him since August 2023. But the Orioles had no need for their closer in the first two games, as neither was close enough to warrant a call to “The Mountain.”

Finally, on Saturday in a 9-5 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays, it came. As the Orioles hitters took the field in the top of the ninth, Bautista got the tap on the shoulder. He threw his sweatshirt off, grabbed his glove and was on the mound in the bullpen in a matter of seconds.

His time was finally here.

It wasn’t a save situation — manager Brandon Hyde preferred it this way, so the stakes weren’t as high — but all that mattered was that Bautista was not only back but performing up to his standards.

“I was really waiting for this game,” Bautista said through a translator. “I was really happy I was able to go out there today and contribute and help the team win.”

With a four-run lead, Bautista took the mound in the bottom of the ninth for the first time in 582 days. His outing started with a pitch-clock violation, but he recovered and got Nathan Lukes to strike out swinging on his splitter.

Then came the top of the Blue Jays’ lineup. Bo Bichette, who terrorized all of the Orioles’ pitchers on Saturday during his four-hit day, smacked a double to left field. Bautista got Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to swing on his splitter once again for the second out, but then he walked Anthony Santander on four pitches.

That splitter came in handy again against Andrés Giménez, Bautista striking out him out to end the game.

He was not only back — he was pitching a scoreless inning ninth for the Orioles again.

“That was so exciting for all of us,” Hyde said. “All the people in this room know what he’s gone through and how he was itching to be a part of our team last year so badly and unable to do that.”

Although his splitter was on and generated four swings and misses, his sinker is still peaking at only 97.9 mph. Before the surgery, he could touch over 100.

“I felt a lot looser today. I think the adrenaline definitely helped,” Bautista said of the splitter. “I think playing in a game that counts as you guys mentioned definitely helped me today, but I did feel really good with it.”

It will likely be a few days until Bautista pitches gain. The Orioles do not plan to use him on back-to-back days for now. It also may take time for him to get where he was before the surgery, when he was one of the best closers in the game and pitched to a 1.48 ERA and an All-Star appearance in 2023.

But Saturday was as positive a sign as it could have been. And the team couldn’t be more thrilled to have their Mountain on the mound again.

“I got goose bumps watching him run onto the field,” reliever Yennier Cano said. “It was needed. It was needed for him to get on to the field and feel what it’s like again and have an outing. It was super nice to see.”