Jackson Holliday didn’t care tonight about exit velocity or distance. He wasn’t an analytics data darling.

One of the biggest hits in the game traveled 337 feet down the left field line and under the foul pole.

Holliday’s three-run homer off Jack Flaherty keyed the Orioles’ 7-4 victory over the Tigers before an announced crowd of 14,956 at rainy Camden Yards. Miserable conditions, much-needed result.

Pete Alonso also had a three-run shot and added a sacrifice fly, and the Orioles improved their record to 22-29. The Tigers (20-32) have lost seven in a row, 10 of 11 and 15 of 17.

Holliday led off the third inning with his first hit since his reinstatement Monday from the injured list and Gunnar Henderson reached with one out on Kevin McGonigle’s fielding error. Adley Rutschman popped up and Alonso hit his 10th home run, and his sixth to right field.

The Orioles led 3-2 and immediately fell behind again with the Tigers scoring twice in the fourth.

Leody Taveras and Colton Cowser singled in the bottom half, and the tying run came home on Flaherty’s balk. Holliday stepped to the plate with one out drove a fastball to the opposite field for a 6-4 lead.

“That’s what Jackson can do,” said manager Craig Albernaz. “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.”

“Really encouraged,” Holliday said. “I thought I saw the ball great. I thought I put good swings on the pitches that I wanted to go on, and yeah, felt good tonight.”

The homer had a 38 degree launch angle and tied for the third shortest in the ballpark’s history.

“I was like, ‘OK, I flew out, whatever,'” Holliday 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 furthest home run in my career. So we’ll take it.”

Could Holliday do it again if he tried?

“I don’t know if you guys remember, but when I hit my first home run, I hit a ball (the next at-bat) very similar to that and I thought that was a home run,” he said of a fly that hooked foul. “So I’m glad it finally … so I think I have done it again. So maybe there’s a chance.”

Holliday hit .176 with one home run in 22 games on his injury rehab assignment. He was 0-for-4 with three strikeouts since rejoining the Orioles following his hamate bone surgery in February.

“It’s been a little bit of a grind of a year so far,” he said, “and just to be up here with these guys and contributing to a win, yeah, it’s awesome.”

Flaherty was charged with three earned runs and six total with eight hits in 3 1/3 innings. He walked none and struck out seven.

Alonso talked earlier today about how the Orioles can “connect the dots” and get back to winning. He made it sound simple, like the kids game that he referenced.

“Just playing quality baseball, playing mindful baseball, smart ball, and I think if we can continue to do that, the talent will shine through,” he said after drawing a media crowd to his locker.

“I still believe in these guys. Like, this team, this organization, I think we’re right there, and I just think collectively, once we kind of get the ball rolling, so to speak, and starting to connect the dots on all sides of the ball, whether it be pitching, base running, defense, it’s gonna be a lovely snowball effect when we get it going.

“This is a beautiful opportunity for us. We have a nice, long homestand right after an off-day. I think the guys are mentally refreshed and physically refreshed, and we’re happy to be back home. And this should be a really good start for us.”

Alonso did his part with his second home run in two games and 11th hit in his last eight.

Henderson also stayed hot with a one-out double in the first inning at 110 mph, but he was stranded at third base.

The Orioles were 0-for-4 with three strikeouts with runners in scoring position through the second inning.

Henderson reached on an infield single in the sixth and singled again in the eighth for his 13th hit in his last seven games and 17th in the last 12. He has six multi-hit games since May 9.

“There’s no secret,” said Chris Bassitt. “When Pete and Gunnar are just who they are, they have the ability to carry an entire offense, and it kind of showed up tonight. It’s great when they’re both on, but even just one of them can do that. I think it was just getting them back to who they are. Not asking for more than that. Just getting those two guys going.”

Keegan Akin hadn’t allowed a run in his last four turns as an opener, including three last season. McGonigle homered on Akin’s first pitch tonight, driving a fastball 394 feet to right field.

Akin struck out the next two batters and retired Riley Greene on a line drive to third. He threw 18 pitches and stepped aside for Bassitt.

A seven-pitch second inning for Bassitt on three ground balls was followed in the third by consecutive doubles from Gage Workman and Hao-Yu Lee for a 2-0 lead. Bassitt retired the next three batters to limit the damage.

A single, double, fielder’s choice grounder – with the runner safe at home – and RBI infield single gave Detroit a 4-3 lead in the fourth before Holliday spun the game in the Orioles’ favor again.

Rico Garcia replaced Bassitt in the sixth after Wenceel Pérez’s double with one out in the sixth. Bassitt allowed three runs and six hits with no walks and four strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings, and he was removed after 58 pitches.

“He gave us exactly what we needed to win the game,” Albernaz said. “He was throwing strikes. No walks. He was competing. I don’t know if the velo was up a little bit, maybe it was up a tick. But it looked like the fastball had more life to it. And he did a good job with the curveball, landing it in the strike zone and getting chase with it. Mixed in some changeups. He was great, he was efficient. It was a really good outing for Bass.”

“Overall, I felt really good,” said Bassitt, who didn’t issue a walk for the first time since July 23, 2025. “The mound held up really good. I can’t really talk about the field, but the mound felt good, so, yeah, it was good.”

Garcia retired both batters in response to his mini-slump, Yennier Cano retired the side in order in the seventh and Tyler Wells did the same in the eighth.

Rookie Anthony Nunez earned his third save after being charged with four runs in the eighth inning Wednesday to take the loss at Tropicana Field. He also disposed of his three batters, striking out two.

“It was awesome. It was a great effort by our guys,” Albernaz said.

“Obviously, the conditions, both teams had to play through them. It is what it is. But 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. … And honestly, the fans tonight, too, were great. It’s tough to watch a game in those conditions, and I don’t know how many fans were there, but the boys felt them in the dugout, so it was awesome.”

If a team must play nine innings in miserable weather, at least come away with a win.

“Yeah, absolutely,” Holliday said. “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.”

Bassitt cut off a member of the media who said the team has put itself in a big hole. On a night with a steady downpour, Bassitt sees the glass as half full.

“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,” he said. “I won the division last year. 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.”