Colton Cowser stood up from his game of cribbage as music blared in the clubhouse, leaving his teammates holding the cards.

Brandon Young pitched like an ace, and Cowser clubbed a walk-off home run to prove again that the Orioles have heart. They just need more wins.

Cowser fell behind two strikes to Tigers closer Kenley Jansen and drove a sinker 440 feet to center field for a three-run shot that gave the Orioles a 5-3 victory before an announced crowd of 17,616 in Game 1 of a doubleheader.

The ball left Cowser’s bat at 111.5 mph and the Orioles had their first walk-off win. Cowser registered his first career walk-off plate appearance.

No Oriole hit a walk-off homer with the team trailing since Adley Rutschman on May 15, 2024 versus the Blue Jays. Dylan Beavers had the last walk-off round-tripper Sept. 25 against the Rays.

“I feel like we’ve been right there a lot of the year,” Cowser said after pausing his cribbage game to speak with the media, a smile on his face for most of it. “It feels like we’ve been one hit away a lot of times, and it’s one of those things that I think baseball is one of those weird games that it feels like a lot of teams, they get up in those spots and they always come through, or it’s a situation where diving play or something, a lot of balls hit hard. It’s not showing up, but I think it’s one of those things that keep putting together quality at-bats, keep hitting the ball hard and keep moving the ball forward and good things will happen.”

No one has launched a ball further at Camden Yards this season, with Cowser surpassing Samuel Basallo’s 437-foot blast on April 1.

“Honestly, it was just try to get something over the heart, be stubborn and just put the ball in play and make something good happen, make them make a play,” Cowser said. “I’ll take the result.”

Cowser flung his bat toward the dugout and teammates poured out of it as he rounded the bases.

“I don’t even know what happened,” he said. “I hit it, and honestly, Pete (Alonso) hit a ball pretty hard as well earlier in the day and it didn’t go. Once I knew it was gone, I kind of gave it a little twirl, I guess. But yeah, glory to God and just keep showing up.”

His thoughts rounding the bases?

“It’s just a good feeling coming through for the team, first off,” he said. “Honestly, can’t really describe it. It’s a really cool feeling, and I was just really happy to come through for the team.”

The season has been a grind again for Cowser, who’s batting .200 with a two home runs and a .573 OPS. He came off the bench today to pinch-hit for Blaze Alexander and grounded to the right side to advance Jeremiah Jackson after a leadoff double. The home run improved the Orioles’ record to 23-29 overall and 2-25 when trailing after the eighth inning.

“It’s just awesome to see that happen for him,” said manager Craig Albernaz. “He’s been actively working his butt off to, I wouldn’t say turn his season around, but to get back to being him. We’ve been talking about it for a little bit where, starting in Kansas City, where he made an adjustment and the quality was getting better and the path was cleaning up a little bit. And yeah, it was awesome to see him, especially coming off the bench to pinch hit after J.J.’s double, being able to have a productive out and move the runner over to get us within one. And then to set up that was awesome. It was such a great swing and yeah, the clubhouse is excited for Cowser.”

Jansen, trying for the four-out save, walked Jackson Holliday and Leody Taveras with one out in the ninth. They executed a double steal with Cowser at the plate, and the Orioles improved to 8-9 in series play.

“It was good to have a walk-off in front of the fans,” Albernaz said. “The fans were great. The boys felt their energy all game and we felt like we were still in it. Just like any game we’re in, we never feel like we’re out of it. And obviously to come across with two outs against Kenley, who’s gonna be a Hall of Famer, and for Cowser to do that, there’s a lot of energy throughout the clubhouse right now.”

The damage against Brandon Young today consisted of two unearned runs over 6 2/3 innings. The Orioles got exactly what they needed, perhaps more than they could have expected, in Game 1 of a doubleheader.

Young threw a career-high 105 pitches, the last nine resulting in a walk that forced him out of the game. He allowed five hits and his ERA decreased from 4.25 to 3.47 in seven starts.

“Brandon Young was outstanding,” Albernaz said. “The way he attacked the zone, his fastball had great life, split was really impressive today. A little bit of a grip change, which was a couple of them early in the game that were coming up tagging as sliders. But it was the split was acting like a left-handed slider. So it was awesome. Killed some velo, added some depth to it. And like I said, he was pounding the strike zone. It was awesome.”

Said Young: “I didn’t really feel my best, didn’t have the best velo and stuff, but found a way to get the job done.”

Keegan Akin stranded an inherited runner, but he allowed a run in the eighth to pad the margin and increase his ERA to 12.66. He came out with the bases loaded and two outs, and Dietrich Enns retired Zack Short on a fly ball.

Jeremiah Jackson began the bottom of the eighth with a double off Kyle Finnegan and he scored with one out on Taylor Ward’s single. Gunnar Henderson, who homered earlier, walked to add momentum to the rally, but the runners were stranded.

Alonso popped up for the final out and slammed his bat to the ground.

Cowser almost smashed his into pieces.

“That was pretty sick, Cowser at the end,” Young said. “We were going crazy in here.”

Young retired the first eight batters before Short doubled off the left field fence with two outs in the third.

Kevin McGonigle led off the fourth with a single and reached second base on a fielder’s choice and throwing error on Alonso, who let a low popup from Dillon Dingler drop in an attempt at a double play, had the ball skip past him and tried to get the force after a sliding stop. The throw bounced past Jackson, who couldn’t make the scoop. Meanwhile, Young didn’t break for the bag, which removed any chance for the out at first.

Matt Vierling had an RBI single with one out and Colt Keith’s sacrifice fly made it 2-0.

Alonso is playing an exceptional first base this season, far beyond his career defensive metrics. His plus-3 outs above average are tied with Cowser for the team lead. Alonso shook his head after the error, clearly upset with the decision he made and the result.

“I know what Pete was trying to do,” Albernaz said. “We talked about it after it happened. It’s just not the ideal ball to do it on, even if it’s, like, hit soft like that. The ideal ball is the pop-up straight up that comes straight down, because when the ball hits, it’ll stay. But that one, when it comes more on a line, the spin is going to mess up and it’s going to kick more, and that’s what ended up happening.

“The thought was right. McGonigle is a fast runner. With Dingler hitting that ball, a catcher, not the fleetest of foot. Like, the thought process was right. It just wasn’t the ideal ball to do it on.”

Young escaped a two-out jam in the sixth after an infield hit and bloop single. The bullpen began to stir with Young at 82 pitches, but he came back out for the seventh and struck out the first two batters before walking Zach McKinstry.

Also, Mustard was ahead in the Hot Dog Race and someone tripped him, a clear case of interference that won’t quiet the conspiracy theories.

The Orioles couldn’t get their offensive footing against Framber Valdez, who carried a one-hit shutout into the sixth.

Adley Rutschman walked in the first and fourth innings. Taveras singled with two outs in the second for the only hit until Henderson belted his 11th homer with one out in the sixth. Henderson deposited a first-pitch curveball onto the flag court to reduce the lead to 2-1.

Alonso flied to the center field fence 396 feet away and at 109.4 mph to end the inning.

Nine of Henderson’s 11 homers have gone to right field and the other two to center. He began today batting .370 with a .593 slugging on the first pitch.

Valdez allowed one run and two hits in six innings and came out after 92 pitches.

“I feel like you’re always just a couple wins away from getting on a roll,” Cowser said. “I feel like we have the clubhouse to do it. I think everyone has the right mindset in here and just got to keep showing up and getting your work in and playing good, clean baseball.”

*Coby Mayo was a late scratch today with lower-back discomfort, leaving the Orioles a player short in the doubleheader.

“His back tightened up on him,” Albernaz said. “This was, I want to say, was 29 minutes before game time, which was the late scratch and move to get Wilson in there. Day-to-day and didn’t get too much information outside of that.”

Mayo became the sixth Oriole to be removed from the lineup before first pitch, joining Tyler O’Neill on April 10, Rutschman on April 11, Blaze Alexander on May 8, Samuel Basallo on May 11 and Dylan Beavers on May 12.

Beavers is on the 10-day injured list with a right oblique strain.

*The Orioles haven’t announced their rotation for the Rays series that begins Monday afternoon at Camden Yards. Tampa Bay is again listing Shane McClanahan, Griffin Jax and Steven Matz.

*Class A Delmarva’s Caden Hunter struck out nine batters in four innings today. He allowed one run and two hits.

Double-A Chesapeake left-hander Luis De León allowed two runs and four hits with six strikeouts in four innings.

  • *Orioles Game 2 lineup:
  • Taylor Ward LF
  • Gunnar Henderson SS
  • Adley Rutschman DH
  • Pete Alonso 1B
  • Samuel Basallo C
  • Leody Taveras CF
  • Colton Cowser RF
  • Blaze Alexander 3B
  • Jackson Holliday 2B
  • Trevor Rogers LHP