Anyone saying they can figure out the 2026 Orioles also are trying to sell you crypto on a hacked account.

They have leads and lose them. They fall behind, seem dead on their feet, and walk off opponents. They were two outs away this afternoon from being seven games below .500 and on the brink of a four-game sweep against the Blue Jays, and eight consecutive batters reached base.

Coby Mayo hit by a Jeff Hoffman pitch with the Orioles down 5-1, Leody Taveras triples, Jackson Holliday singles, Jeremiah Jackson doubles, Taylor Ward walks, Gunnar Henderson walks, Adley Rutschman walks. Pete Alonso, 0-for-8 this season with the bases loaded, including a pair of strikeouts and two double plays, grounds a single into right-center field against a drawn-in infield, and the Orioles celebrate an improbable 6-5 win before an announced crowd of 32,645 at Camden Yards.

Hoffman couldn’t find the plate. His replacement, Connor Seabold, couldn’t find the plate against Rutschman to tie the game or miss Alonso’s bat to win it.

“It’s just our guys being disciplined throughout the game,” said manager Craig Albernaz. “We had 11 walks. And like we talked about all year, we never feel like we’re out of a game. Everyone was in the dugout saying, ‘Get the tying run up, one at-bat at a time.’ We don’t waver.

“Like the guys in the clubhouse, they’re outstanding, they don’t waver. But also, to say that in the dugout and then go out there and be really disciplined in the box, especially when the crowd’s going nuts and everyone wants to be the hero, being able to be selfless, take your walk and pass it to the next guy, that was fun to watch.”

This is the third time in franchise history that the Orioles entered the ninth trailing by at least four runs and won in the ninth. It was sixth time that the Orioles were behind by four or more entering the ninth and won it in any frame, the first since June 7, 2017 against the Pirates.

Alonso had struck out, grounded into a double play with the bases full, walked and grounded out before his heroics.

“Oh, it probably felt awesome,” Albernaz said. “And to me, that’s Pete’s calling card, his ability to drive the ball the other way with runners in scoring position. He has pop to all fields, and that right there, being able to take that pitch and drive it to right field to end the game, like, to me, that’s where Pete’s at his best with runners in scoring position.”

He’s also had his best in postgame interviews. The man can touch on a dozen topics with one question.

“I just want to just tip my hat to the lineup,” he said. “All day, I think it was 10, 11 walks, something like that, zone discipline was on point today from the whole lineup. And again, for me, personally, I had a couple opportunities early, I think my first and second at-bat, to drive some guys in and didn’t get the job done. I was just kind of hoping and praying I would have an opportunity later on in the game. I’m just so, so proud of the way that we fought and the way that we executed down the stretch in the ninth.

“I think the huge momentum was Coby wearing one for the boys right there. He took it like a man, and that kind of fired us up in the dugout. And then, just everyone after that – Leo, Cows, Jax, and then obviously the top of the order, just high-quality at-bats. It’s just superb, superb execution.

“Again, just an unbelievable team win. I’m just, again, very, very pleased I was able to kind of come up big there and be presented with an opportunity to put the boys on top. So again, just really, really thankful to be put in that opportunity. My teammates did just such an unbelievable job.”

The offense couldn’t take advantage of seven walks from Blue Jays starter Trey Yesavage, and Keegan Akin let two inherited runners score in the eighth inning, but the Orioles improved to 27-32 overall and 6-3 on the homestand, which includes three walk-offs.

They grounded into two double plays earlier in the day after loading the bases and a third after putting two runners on base with no outs in the sixth. They were held to three hits until Taveras’ triple off Hoffman. They were 1-for-17 in the series with runners in scoring position until the ninth inning.

Don’t try to make sense of it.

“I feel like we kind of just flip-flopped,” Alonso said. “Last night, we had a pretty good commanding lead and then they took it from us. And then, same thing happened but the other way. So I feel like last night we should have won, and then today, they should have won. So I feel like baseball has a funny way of kind of evening out.”

The Orioles were hurting most of the day, and again in the ninth when Samuel Basallo dropped to one knee and grabbed his left shoulder after striking out. He was grimacing as he walked to the dugout with head athletic trainer Scott Barringer, but he stood on deck as Alonso batted and would have hit again. Albernaz said Basallo felt a pinch in his upper pectoral but got checked out and is fine.

Huge relief. Just like avoiding what could have been a disheartening defeat.

“I think we put together a lot of really good at-bats today,” Holliday said, “and I think we’re never really out of the game, and it’s pretty awesome to put together some really good at-bats. And just next-guy mentality and to be able to get Pete up there and you know he’s going to put the ball in play and hit the ball hard. I felt pretty confident with him up there that we’re gonna win.”

Brandon Young was pacing in the clubhouse after making the start, hanging on every pitch, every swing, even ball taken outside the strike zone. There were plenty.

“We were trying to keep calm in here,” he said. “We saw what was happening, the walks, and when he walked the run in, we knew something was happening. We couldn’t feel the energy from in here, but we know it was happening out there, like the atmosphere and stuff, but man, that was crazy, that was awesome.

“Play until the last out. I think that’s a good thing to do.”

*The Orioles have three starting pitchers on their injured list. Zach Elfin won’t return after undergoing ligament-reconstructive surgery on his right elbow. Dean Kremer hasn’t begun an injury rehab assignment while recovering from a strained right quadriceps. Cade Povich received a cortisone injection in his right elbow on May 19 and no longer has a locker in the clubhouse.

Opening Day starter Trevor Rogers spent time on the IL with the flu, again putting the Orioles in rotation scramble mode.

An opportunity is presented to Young, and he’s running with it.

Young struck out a career-high seven batters today in 6 2/3 innings and allowed only two runs. And this time, an impressive outing by an Orioles starter didn’t come with a loss.

“It felt good,” he said. “Felt better than I did last start. Just continuing to attack the strikes zone, get ahead. That’s the main goal to get deep in the game. That’s the goal for us to give our team a chance to win.”
The Orioles’ rotation has produced a 2.66 ERA in the last 11 games. Young lowered his ERA to 3.35 in eight starts and doesn’t need to worry about hopping back on the Triple-A shuttle.

Ward drew the first of his three walks leading off the bottom of the first inning, and he robbed Kazuma Okamoto in the second inning with a leaping catch at the left field fence – a 373-foot out that prompted Young to applaud him from the mound.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. ripped a 105.3 mph single into left field with two outs in the first after Young began the game by striking out George Springer and Nathan Lukes. Springer singled with two outs in the third after Young struck out Andrés Giménez and Tyler Heineman with four-seamers clocked at 95 and 95.1 mph.

Guerrero led off the fourth with a single. Jeremiah Jackson made a diving catch in his first start in right field this season and Okamoto struck out on a 95.7 mph fastball, but the Jays led 2-1 after Jesús Sánchez’s double and Ernie Clement’s single – both hit to center field.

Taveras appeared to get a late break on Sánchez’s ball and it nicked the top of his glove as he attempted a leaping catch on the warning track.  

Young walked two batters in the fifth because that was the theme today, but the Orioles turned a double play in between and Mayo charged Guerrero’s slow roller, made the barehand pickup and threw him out.

The defense kept rushing to Young’s aid, with Taveras’ play the exception. Daulton Varsho led off the sixth with a double into the right field corner and was thrown out at third base – Jackson to Holliday to Mayo, who made a nice sprawling tag. Young struck out the next two batters.

Okamoto had a two-run double off Akin in the eighth after Anthony Nunez allowed back-to-back singles. The Blue Jays tallied an unearned run against Albert Suárez in the ninth, but the veteran right-hander was credited with the win.

Plenty of plate opportunities

Yesavage didn’t allow a hit until Henderson’s 104.3 mph RBI single in the third, but he walked five of the first 12 batters, including Jackson and Ward back-to-back before Henderson came to the plate.

Henderson was 2-for-26 before his single. Alonso grounded into a 5-4-3 double play.

Yesavage was making his 10th major league start, not counting the playoffs, and he hadn’t walked more than three batters. Basallo doubled that total leading off the fourth inning, and Holliday made it seven after Mayo’s single and Taveras’ sacrifice bunt. Mayo won a challenge to avoid the strikeout.

The Orioles failed again with the bases loaded. Okamoto stepped on third base while fielding Jackson’s grounder and threw across the diamond for the double play. Yesavage was at 81 pitches, 39 for strikes.

Yesavage allowed one run and two hits in five innings and lowered his ERA to 2.19. He threw 92 pitches, 48 for strikes.

He stood to be the winner until Toronto’s bullpen meltdown and the Orioles belief, again, that they could pull through, no matter how dire the circumstances.

“There’s never a doubt,” Alonso said. “I mean, we’ve done it a few times this year. Because we’ve done it, it’s like, ‘Hey, we’re never out of it.’ The talent and just the personnel we have, it’s like we all believe in each other. We know that’s definitely capable and within reach and so it’s just all guys relying on each other to execute their own game plan for the greater good of the team.

“Everyone was just so on point, so on point. So again just so proud of how we fought and kinda stayed in it the whole way, didn’t give away anything and just happy we were able to take this one.”

Down on the farm

Left-hander Micah Ashman began his injury rehab assignment with High-A Frederick. Ashman had a 2.45 ERA and 1.473 WHIP in 11 games with Double-A Chesapeake. He walked six and struck out 34 in 181 /3 innings and surrendered only one home run. The Orioles acquired Ashman from the Tigers for Charlie Morton at last year’s trade deadline.