SEATTLE — In the span of four pitches, the Orioles once again turned this into a show. This had been a cruel drama through the early part of the season, but the recent turnaround has made for must-watch television — the sort of drama and intrigue screenwriters would strive to concoct.

They’ve fired a manager, fallen 18 games below .500 and now suddenly come to life — with a six-game winning streak that continued in the series finale against the Seattle Mariners at T-Mobile Park.

First came Adley Rutschman, whose toe tap-less load led to a game-tying homer on a second consecutive day. One batter later, Gunnar Henderson stole the spotlight of stardom with a high-flying solo shot that gave Baltimore a 4-3 lead that turned into a ninth win in the Orioles’ last 11 games.

Suddenly, this season doesn’t seem so lost. Suddenly, there’s an air of expectancy that rivals what was contagious in 2023 and the first half of 2024.

“It’s an addiction,” right-hander Zach Eflin said of winning, “and people are starting to feel it.”

Ahead of this series in Seattle, the Orioles were facing a steep climb back toward .500 in the 50 games preceding the July 31 trade deadline. This sweep hardly brings Baltimore higher than the foothills — after all, the Orioles require a .640 winning percentage during this 50-game stretch to reach an even point.

But so far they’re boasting a 1.000 winning percentage. The hole is now 25-36. It’s still 11 games below .500, but with a series against the Athletics this weekend, perhaps they can make up more ground.

“I understand we dug ourselves a big hole, but you can always climb out of it,” Eflin said. “It’s a 162-game season. None of us have lost confidence. None of us have gone home depressed or anything. We’re here to win every single game that we have, and it’s been a lot more fun the past couple weeks, just going out, rattling off wins, finding ways to win games.”

Whatever occurs over the remaining 101 games of the season will be interesting. Whether the Orioles get to the point where they’re not sellers at the deadline is one thing; reaching the postseason after firing manager Brandon Hyde is another.

To go on this winning streak, the Orioles have required a resurgent effort from their starting pitching staff. Eflin continued the trend with three runs against him in six innings. The quality start brought Baltimore’s rotation ERA to 2.83 since May 26.

Still, before Rutschman and Henderson took right-hander Bryan Woo deep in consecutive plate appearances, the Mariners threatened this streak.

The long conversation among Eflin, catcher Maverick Handley and pitching coach Drew French ahead of the fifth-inning at-bat against Cal Raleigh could not have included throwing a cutter down the middle of the strike zone. There must have been consideration for walking Raleigh, Seattle’s hottest hitter and one of the best in baseball, but even after Eflin threw a first-pitch ball, he didn’t consider a free pass.

“You’re kind of in a weird predicament there in the fifth inning,” interim manager Tony Mansolino said, because “it’s still early in the game. You don’t want multiple guys on base.”

Eflin said “it was a thought” to intentionally walk Raleigh. “But at the end of the day I’m a competitor,” he said. ”I’m trying to get everybody out, I don’t care who it is."

So with a runner on third, Eflin fired the cutter middle-middle. Raleigh got just enough of it to sneak the ball over the right-field fence for a two-run homer.

Raleigh has been the bane of many teams this season, and he was a frequent challenge for Orioles pitching. In the third, his two-out single brought home the first run against Eflin to tie the game. And Raleigh’s bomb in the fifth momentarily gave the Mariners a two-run lead.

Rutschman and Henderson took care of that. And, immediately after their long balls reinstalled an Orioles lead, Eflin produced a 1-2-3 sixth inning to complete his quality start.

“We’re not surprised that he came back and battled back,” Mansolino said. “That’s kind of what he’s done his whole career, so pretty clean sixth and got us into the seventh.”

For much of this season, Rutschman hasn’t performed at a high level with a bat in his hands. But a return to his native Pacific Northwest has coincided with a big-time series.

He recorded three hits Thursday for the second time in three games. He finished the three-game set with seven knocks, including a pair of homers. And since May 15 Rutschman’s average is .286.

“Adley’s looked really good here for a while,” Mansolino said. “He’s really trending in the direction that we saw today. ... It’s starting to kind of all come together.”

That looks more like the former top prospect. And this team, at the moment, looks more like the club it was expected to be at the beginning of the season.

There are ample twists and turns remaining. There will be cliffhangers and dramatic revelations. This is must-watch stuff, after all, and the latest question — can the Orioles really recover from a terrible start? — is worth asking.

“Everybody’s starting to get comfortable in these situations; everybody’s getting more experience in it,” Henderson said. “I feel like we’re making strides in the right direction of getting back to what we know we can do.”

This article has been updated.