WASHINGTON—Gunnar Henderson has been wondering all season long when he’s going to begin hitting consistently. Perhaps Sunday was the day.
The 24-year-old shortstop had his first four-hit game of the season. He homered, singled twice and doubled as the Orioles won the final game of their series with the Washington Nationals, 7-3, before 26,715 at Nationals Park on Sunday.
His leadoff home run, which landed in the third deck against Nationals opener Richard Lovelady (2-2), gave the Orioles (21-26) an instant lift.
“How Gunnar goes and how he’s doing is usually how we go, too,” manager Craig Albernaz said. “Not to take credit away from a lot of great hitters in our lineup, but with Gunnar doing what he did right there, he set the tone. That was a pretty majestic home run to start the game, especially left-on-left, too, so it was really impressive.”
Miles Mikolas, the bulk pitcher, allowed four runs in 5 2/3 innings.
Third baseman Coby Mayo, the first batter to face Mikolas, hit a two-run home run in the third. On Saturday, Mayo thought he’d hit a long home run, but it went foul. He’s 5-for-14 in his last three games and is playing his best ball of the season.
“I know I didn’t play my best baseball early this season,” he said. “At times, I showed little flashes of it. Feel good right now, which is nice.”
Pete Alonso’s sacrifice fly in the third scored Taylor Ward, and Colton Cowser hit his first home run of the season in the fourth. The Orioles initially gave him the silent treatment when he returned to the dugout but then celebrated the homer.
Oriole starter Brandon Young was removed after 3 2/3 innings. He allowed two runs on five hits.
Jacob Young homered with one out in the second, and Kelbert Ruiz’s sacrifice fly in the fourth scored Daylen Lile.
Anthony Nunez (2-2) relieved Young with the bases loaded in the fourth and retired all four batters he faced, striking out three. Tyler Wells threw a clean sixth and gave up a run on three hits in the seventh. CJ Abrams lined a ball off Alonso’s glove at first that caromed all the way to third and allowed James Wood to score.
Yennier Cano pitched a scoreless eighth. Rico Garcia allowed his second hit of the season, but pitched a scoreless ninth.
Henderson, who also stole second in the third, drove in the Orioles’ seventh run in the ninth. It scored Jeremiah Jackson, who led off with a double.
Can Henderson get going? Henderson is hitting .214, the highest he’s hit this month.
“He’s been showing it,” Albernaz said. “He had a rough stretch here, but he’s been working. He had been sitting on nine home runs for a while, it wasn’t like he wasn’t doing anything by any stretch. But, no, great at-bats the past few days, and it’s been trending this way pretty much since Miami.”
Henderson had a rough start when he was promoted to Aberdeen, and in the first two months of the 2023 season.
“I’ll have to go back and look at my High-A start, I think it was 0-for-31 or something like that,” Henderson said. “Thing I learned probably the most from that was just sticking to what got you to where you are, and it’s so hard to do that when you’re in the moment because you’re obviously wanting to find something that’s going to bring you success now.
“You’ve just got to stick with it. It’s easier said than done. But you’ve just got to build on day, and I’ve felt like I’ve had good at-bats the past about five days. It was starting to get frustrating, I’m not going to lie, because you feel good and then it’s like, ‘All right, well the hits are supposed to come.’ But baseball’s just a funny game.”
How difficult has the season been for Cowser? Cowser has just three extra-base hits, hitting .173.
“I’ve been feeling great,” he said. “I feel like it’s, like I said, just been working really hard in the cage. Just really trying to instill some confidence that hasn’t been showing up from the results and just trusting the process. Yeah, I’ve been feeling really comfortable and just trying to stack quality at-bats.”
He’s felt this was coming.
“I feel like we’ve had a lot of quality at-bats these past couple days and it was just a matter of just starting to string them together,” Cowser said. “Balls started to fall today, and honestly, it was just one of our more complete wins this year it feels like. A really good showing.”
What does it mean? The Orioles need Henderson to be more consistent if they expect to be a contender this season.
What’s the word?” I feel like our at-bats have been good. It’s just baseball sometimes. Balls find holes sometimes, and balls don’t. It’s just a matter of baseball. It’s just riding the ups and downs. And I feel like if we just keep having at-bats like this, we’re going to get on a pretty good run here and just stick with it.’-Henderson on his and the Orioles’ season.
What’s the stat of the day? 1.06. Cano’s ERA has fallen to 1.06 after his ninth straight scoreless appearance.
What’s going on in the minor leagues? Jackson Holliday, Triple-A Norfolk’s designated hitter, was 1-for-3 and removed early as part of his return to play progression in a 15-3 loss to Charlotte.
Outfielder Ryan Noda was removed from the game with a bruised right knee after a collision with the outfield wall.
Griff O’Ferrall and Tavian Josenberger each drove in two runs in Double-A Chesapeake’s 10-9 loss to Akron.
Colin Tuft homered twice and drove in three runs, Brylin Tavera homered and Wehiwa Aloy had three his and drove in two runs as High-A Frederick beat Hudson Valley, 6-3.
Left-hander Joseph Dzierwa is being promoted from the Keys to the Baysox.
Outfielder Ike Irish was removed from the game after he was hit by a pitch on the right wrist.
Andres Nolaya drove in four runs as Single-A Delmarva lost to Fayetteville, 8-7.
What’s next? The Orioles will open a three-game series at Tropicana Field against the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday night. Trevor Rogers (2-4, 5.77) will start against Shane McClanahan (4-2, 2.27). Game time is 6:40.
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