The unpredictable nature of baseball reared his lovely head again tonight.

It also can get ugly. The Orioles just had to ride it out.

Brandon Young is pitching like an ace, knocking down the walls of a small sample size and leveling hitters. Christian Encarnacion-Strand didn’t begin the year in the organization and didn’t join the team until July 16 in Houston, but he’s setting franchise records.

In serious need of a positive outcome tonight, the Orioles rode Young’s latest quality start to another late-inning lead. But Rico Garcia served up his second game-tying home run in two nights in the eighth, this one to Ozzie Albies leading off the inning.

Rather than let it break them, the Orioles prevailed over the Braves 3-2 before another announced Hawaiian shirt crowd of 37,883 at Camden Yards. Jackson Holliday doubled off Didier Fuentes with one out in the ninth, pinch-hitter Colton Cowser, in a 2-for-35 slump, flied to deep right-center to put the winning run 90 feet away, and Dylan Beavers bounced a first-pitch, 100.1 mph fastball into right field.

The Orioles improved to 51-54, with a chance to claim the series on Sunday, and are 2 1/2 games back for the last Wild Card.

“It’s definitely a big win,” said manager Craig Albernaz. “I mean, any win is a big win, but a tight game like that.”

Beavers also had two walk-offs last September.

“It’s awesome,” he said. “It’s exciting to help the team win, whether it’s a walk-off or in the fifth inning. I think it’s all great. But yeah, it’s exciting when your whole team gets behind you and everyone’s fired up.”

“Yeah, it’s sick,” Young said. “He’s definitely an important piece of this team. Just like everybody is, really. I mean, it’s going to take the whole village, as they say, to continue stacking these wins like that. But yeah, big time. We were really pumped up in here.”

Beavers looked like he was sitting on the fastball and he got enough of it to elude a diving Albies.

“You’ve got to be on time with the fastest pitch, that’s normally kind of my approach,” he said. “He started mixing some more splitters, I guess, in that second inning, so aware of that but still kind of committed to the fastball.”

If last night’s loss felt crushing, tonight’s win reminded the Orioles that they have enough time to influence whether the front office buys or sells.

“I think everyone’s aware of it,” Beavers said. “But typically, it’s just kind of a go ‘win the day’ mentality. Show up every day and take that game. I think everyone in this clubhouse believes we can be really good. We just need to be better more consistently, all around. We’re all kind of in agreement on that. But I think, every day, we’ve got to win the day.”

“It’s time for us to bear down and win some games here,” Holliday said. “Obviously, we want to make a push for the playoffs and these games are really important, and we unfortunately got to see what the other side of everything looks like last year. I know I don’t want to experience that. I want to go, I want to have a chance to play in the playoffs and have a chance to win the World Series, and I think these games are very important.”

Holliday’s double concluded a seven-pitch at-bat after he fell behind 0-2. Left fielder Mauricio Dubón made a diving attempt and the ball rolled away from him.

“I mean obviously (Fuentes) has a really good fastball, he threw the inning before, and I’m not sure he even threw an off-speed pitch,” Holliday said. “I kind of knew what to expect and (saw) it well. Just kind of fighting it off, and then finally got a good one to hit and put a good swing on it. Just hopefully get the inning going. And (Cowser) had a great at-bat, took a great swing, and Beavs came up and delivered. It was awesome, great moment. A lot of fun tonight.

“Beav’s the man. I mean, you know you’re going to get good at-bat out of him, no matter what. And swinging the bat great, he walks a ton. He’s one of my best buddies, so it’s a lot of fun to watch him do his thing.”

The Braves are starting another right-hander on Sunday, Reynaldo López, and Beavers likely stays in the leadoff spot.

“Always felt good about Beavers,” Albernaz said. “He has a slow heartbeat, manages the at-bat extremely well, fights off a lot of tough pitches, and he can hit. He has the ability to make contact, hit the ball to all fields, and he has some thump. I know it’s really settling in nicely right now for us.”

Young allowed one run and four hits with six strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings and reduced his ERA to 3.13, the lowest in the rotation. He went splitter-heavy, making a minor adjustment to the grip, and pinned down the Braves for most of the night.

Young received a standing ovation after facing his last batter.

“Yeah, it’s electric,” he said. “Kudos to our fans. I love pitching here. I love when we pack it out. You could feel it on the mound, part of the reason my velo was up, I think. Just electric throughout. The ‘O’ during the anthem was sick, just looking out and having all three levels packed. It was cool to see.”

Drake Baldwin homered off Garcia last night in the eighth and the Orioles lost 7-6 in 10 innings. Manager Craig Albernaz went back to him tonight and Albies launched a changeup onto the flag count for a 2-2 tie.

Garcia has surrendered a home run in three consecutive appearances.

“Ozzie Albie hits a changeup that’s up,” Albernaz said. “Other than that, Rico was outstanding. … He’s one of the best relievers.”

Yennier Cano retired the side in order in the ninth on two grounders and a strikeout.

Gunnar Henderson struck out in his first two at-bats, but he homered off Bryce Elder in the fifth to give the Orioles a 2-0 lead. He broke into his trot as No. 18, exceeding his 2025 total, was approaching the right-center field fence.

Encarnacion-Strand came through again, of course, collecting his ninth RBI in six games with the Orioles after he singled with two outs in the third to score Pete Alonso. His 107.4 mph line drive deflected off the glove of leaping shortstop Jim Jarvis, who dropped Alonso’s fly ball in shallow center field earlier in the inning. Taylor Ward singled to extend the rally.

No player in Orioles history collected nine RBIs in his first six games with the club before Encarnacion-Strand arrived last week. He also became the first on Friday with at least three multi-RBI games in his first five.

“Yeah, he’s been awesome,” Holliday said. “I’ve actually known Christian for a while. Went to Oklahoma State, so a previous relationship. I always knew he was going to be a great player and a big leaguer. It’s been a lot of fun to watch him do his thing, and I got to see him in Triple-A this year, and I knew it was only a matter of time.”

Same power in college?

“Oh, yeah,” Holliday said. “I think more with a metal bat. Pretty sure you can find some pretty far home runs he hit back there.”

Jarvis also dropped Alonso’s popup in the seventh to put runners on the corners with two outs. Alonso swiped second base, but Henderson struck out. Holliday, who led off with a single, slowed as he approached third base while Jarvis tracked the ball and couldn’t go any further.

“I definitely didn’t give the effort to have the chance to score,” Holliday said. “It’s something that won’t happen again. You can nitpick, but we won. But that can’t happen, and it won’t happen again.”
Young retired the side in order on nine pitches in the first inning and stranded two runners in a 20-pitch second with back-to-back strikeouts. Drake Baldwin singled with one out in the third and also was stranded, and Young breezed through the fourth on 10 pitches.

After working around Mike Yastrzemski’s one-out single in the fifth, Young finally surrendered a run in the sixth on Dubón’s groundout after Matt Olson walked with one out and Michael Harris II doubled.

Young knocked down Dominic Smith’s comebacker with his right hand to record the final out.

Grant Wolfram entered after Young began the seventh by striking out Austin Riley for the third time. Pinch-hitter Eli White doubled down the right field line, stumbling as he rounded first base, falling before getting to second and making it safely when the throw skipped past Henderson. A grounder and strikeout preserved a one-run lead.

Elder allowed two runs, one earned, and struck out eight in five innings. He threw 26 of his 98 pitches in a scoreless first that included another leadoff single for Beavers, a two-out walk to Ward and an eight-pitch strikeout of Encarnacion-Strand. He walked two batters in the second, sandwiched around Tyler O’Neill’s double play grounder.

Down on the farm

Trey Gibson allowed two runs in four innings with Triple-A Norfolk. Heston Kjerstad had three more hits and is batting .295 with a .764 OPS. Enrique Bradfield Jr. went 3-for-6 with two RBIs. Ryan Noda hit his seventh home run, and Fernando Peguero doubled and homered.

Patrick Reilly started for Double-A Chesapeake, his first in the Eastern League since April 19, 2025 before undergoing Tommy John surgery. The organization’s No. 25 prospect per MLB Pipeline allowed three runs and five hits with six strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings. He surrendered three home runs.

Infielder Jemone Nuel, infielder Hector Campusano, left-hander Francisco Morao, and right-handers Jake Dykhoff and KK Clark are moving up from the Florida Complex League to Class A Delmarva.