Three weeks ago, Zach Eflin was dominated by a mediocre Washington Nationals offense. He threw his changeup, one of his best pitches this season, just 7.5% of the time and allowed eight runs.

Since then, Eflin has relied heavily on his changeup, throwing the pitch more than 20% of the time in each of his past four starts. And on Wednesday night, in a must-win game against the Detroit Tigers, Eflin leaned on the offspeed offering even more to lead the Orioles to a decisive 10-1 victory at Camden Yards.

Meanwhile, the Orioles’ offense exploded for a season-high 16 hits and scored its most runs since opening day. The last time Baltimore won by five or more runs was a 9-1 victory over the Cleveland Guardians on April 16.

Every Oriole recorded a hit and seven players had two or more. A two-run homer by Ramón Urías in the third inning started the scoring, but Baltimore had productive at-bats the entire game.

Eflin’s showing was especially impressive considering the Orioles’ desperation for a strong start. He used his changeup 31% of the time, inducing a 14% called strike-plus-whiff rate. Detroit’s average exit velocity was 86.8 mph against the pitch.

His changeup usage has skyrocketed this season. The 31-year-old ace is throwing the pitch more than 15% of the time, a 9% increase from last season. Opponents are batting just .156 against the offering and have a .250 slugging against it.“It’s been feeling really good out of the hand recently, been getting pretty good results on it,” Eflin said. “For me, it’s been good for weak contact and a couple strikeouts on it, but more so just trusting it.”

It’s not as if Eflin’s changeup is more devastating this season; he’s only gained one inch of horizontal break and two inches of vertical break compared with last year. Against the Tigers, his spin rate was actually lower than his season average.

But Detroit’s left-handed-heavy lineup was mystified by Eflin’s offspeed pitch. The Tigers managed just five hits and one walk against the right-hander, who retired the first eight batters and didn’t allow a hit until the fourth inning.

“That’s kind of what we saw last year, right? And it seems like every outing right now, he’s getting better and better,” interim manager Tony Mansolino said.

The Orioles (27-39) needed a strong showing from Eflin. He’s struggled in his past four starts, recording a 6.49 ERA in 23 1/3 innings, punctuated by the Nationals tagging him for eight runs on May 18. With reigning American League Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal slated to start on Thursday for Detroit (44-25), Baltimore couldn’t afford to lose another game.

While Eflin delivered one of his strongest starts of the year, he was helped by the Orioles’ offense producing one of its best showings.

“We are playing better at the right time and we’re getting our boys back and we feel better,” Urías said.

Cedric Mullins scored two runs and drove in a run, Gunnar Henderson went 2-for-3 with two walks and Jordan Westburg homered for the second straight day since returning from the injured list. Ryan O’Hearn ended a mini-slump with a two-run single in the eighth inning.

Eflin ran into his only dose of trouble in the seventh, when an RBI double by Colt Keith put runners on second and third with one out. Against his final batter, Eflin forced pinch-hitter Dillon Dingler into a ground ball to third for a fielder’s choice at home, ending his outing amid a standing ovation from the Camden Yards crowd.

Reliever Keegan Akin struck out former Oriole Jahmai Jones in the next at-bat, preserving Eflin’s line at just one earned run allowed on five hits and one walk with five strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings. Bryan Baker and Gregory Soto did not allow another run.

Orioles fans have seen dozens of poor showings this season. When the offense delivers, the pitching has tended to lag behind. If a pitcher had a strong showing, it’s typically been negated by a sleepy offense.

“It’s not like we didn’t think we could do it. I mean, it’s just a matter of time,” Henderson said.

Wednesday was the ideal version of this Orioles team. It will be difficult to replicate, but if Eflin can continue to string together ace-like starts and the offense remains healthy, such performances are the path to a playoff push.

Have a news tip? Contact Sam Jane at sjane@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/Sam_Jane230.