BALTIMORE–What happened? As the first holiday weekend of the summer began, Jackson Holliday hit a two-run home run in the fourth inning that helped lift the Orioles to a 7-4 win over the Detroit Tigers on a wet night.
With rain forecast throughout the three-game series with the Tigers, and the game scheduled for national streaming on Apple TV, the Orioles wanted to play.
The 14.963 soggy fans at Oriole Park watched Holliday, in his third game this season, hit a home run that landed down the left-field line and under the foul pole. It traveled just 337 feet, the shortest by an Oriole at home since Tim Beckham’s 333-foot homer versus the Tigers on August 3rd, 2017.
The 22-year-old second baseman didn’t think he had homered.
“OK, I flew out, whatever,” he said. “And then I saw Riley [Greene] running back, and I was like, ‘Oh man, maybe he’s not going to catch it.’ Yeah, it might have been my farthest home run in my career. So, we’ll take it.”
First baseman Pete Alonso drove in four runs with a three-run home run in the third and and sacrifice fly in the sixth as the Orioles (22-29) began their season-long 10-game homestand with a win. They had lost five of six on their road trip to Washington and Tampa Bay.
Shortstop Gunnar Henderson had his second straight three-hit game
Manager Craig Albernaz decided to use Keegan Akin as the opener, and he allowed a home run to Kevin McGonigle on the game’s first pitch.
Back-to-back doubles by Gage Workman and Hao-Yu Lee in the third against Chris Bassitt, who came on for the second inning, made it 2-0.
Alonso’s three-run home run to right in the third against Jack Flaherty (0-6) put the Orioles ahead, 3-2.
Detroit (20-32) took a 4-3 lead in the fourth. With runners on second and third with one out, Zach McKinstry bounced to Alonso at first. His throw home was not in time, and Greene scored with the tying run. Hao-Yu Lee singled to score Spencer Torkelson, and the Orioles were again behind.
Holliday’s homer gave Orioles a 6-4 lead in the bottom of the fourth. It came after Leody Taveras scored on a balk and brought home Colton Cowser. Alonso’s sacrifice fly in the sixth scored Henderson with the final Orioles’ run.
“It was a great effort by our guys,” Albernaz said. “Our guys went out there and played and competed. I mean, we had no walks on the pitching side, which is really impressive, especially with the mound conditions and just throwing strikes. Defense was flawless. It’s tough conditions to field ground balls and even fly balls, too, with the rain in your face. And the way we ran the bases today was awesome. All the guys were pushing the envelope on the basepaths.”
Bassitt (4-3) allowed three runs on six hits in 4 1/3 innings. Rico Garcia recorded the final two outs of the sixth. Yennier Cano, Tyler Wells and Anthony Nunez each pitched spotless innings, with Nunez earning his third save.
How important is Holliday to the Orioles? Albernaz is appreciating the difference he can bring to the team. Besides the home run, he singled in the third, flied out to right and walked in the seventh.
“That’s what Jackson can do,” he said. “He’s so talented. Great at-bats. Getting his first hit, going down, seeing it hit the grass probably took a little bit of weight off him.
“That home run was impressive in a lot of different ways, how it went underneath the foul pole, but also from our vantage point in the dugout, that ball could have hooked foul, but his swing path is so clean where the ball flight just stayed true. He had great at-bats all night.”
Holliday nearly hit a similar home run on July 31st, 2024 after he hit his first major league home run, a grand slam, but it went foul. He chuckled when asked if he could duplicate this one.
“I’m glad it finally — so I think I have done it again. So, maybe there’s a chance,” he said.
Can the Orioles climb out of their hole? The Orioles are 7-13 in May, and though they trail five teams in the wild-card race, Bassitt is convinced it’s doable.
“It’s not a big hole,” he said. “I mean, how many games back of the wild card are we [three]? Yeah, that’s nothing. I won the division last year [with Toronto]. I would love to win the division. It’s just cool. But the reality is, it’s just get to the playoffs.
“The No. 1 goal for me always is just get to the playoffs. It’s not win the division, because there are so many times that I feel like in the past a team that I’ve been on has chased the division, and then, OK, we didn’t win the division, but we made the playoffs, and we were absolutely fried from trying to win the division.
“So, to me, it’s just how do you get into the playoffs? And then how to get into the playoffs healthy, just given the amount of time off certain guys need. So, yeah, I don’t think there’s a fear of a deficit, because there really isn’t one.”
What does it mean? The fans who sat through awful conditions to watch this game should have been given a reward, other than just watching an Orioles’ win.
What’s the stat of the day? 0. Orioles pitching didn’t allow a walk for the second time this season.
What’s the word? “It’s kind of nice, the infield stays a little bit on the wetter side and I didn’t have any trouble seeing the ball at the plate. So, that was no big deal. It kind of gives us, I think, a little bit of an advantage when the pitchers can’t hold on to the ball as much. But, yeah, when it’s pouring rain the entire game, it feels nice.”-Holliday on winning in unfavorable weather conditions.
What’s going on in the minor leagues? Peyton Eeles hit a grand slam in Triple-A Norfolk’s 8-3 win over Jacksonville. Heston Kjerstad drove in two runs and Nestor German allowed three runs on five hits in six innings.
Joseph Dzierwa allowed four runs, three earned, on five hits in 5 1/3 innings, striking out 10 without walking a batter in Double-A Chesapeake’s 8-2 loss to Somerset.
Single-A Delmarva’s record dropped to 15-28 with a 7-2 loss to Wilson.
High-A Frederick’s doubleheader with Greenville was rained out.
Delmarva right-hander Hunter Allen had Tommy John surgery this week by Dr. Keith Meister in Arlington, Texas. The Orioles say the surgery was successful.
What’s next? The Orioles and Detroit Tigers are scheduled to play at 4:05 p.m. on Saturday. Brandon Young (3-1, 4.25) will face Framber Valdez (2-3, 4.58).
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