ATLANTA – Last night’s Fourth of July contest between the O’s and Braves didn’t provide many fireworks. This afternoon, though, the clubs certainly made up for it, combining for five home runs in an extra-innings thriller.
The Orioles came out on top, 9-6.
Dean Kremer was on the mound for Baltimore, looking to continue his great stretch of starts since May 1. A big key was that he needed to avoid the big inning.
It’s been the one bugaboo in what has otherwise been a dominant stretch of 11 games. Four innings have accounted for 15 of his 24 earned runs in that stretch. This afternoon, though, the damage was more dispersed.
He also hadn’t allowed a home run since June 12, and that changed in the bottom of the first.
After a Matt Olson double, Kremer’s first-pitch cutter to Austin Riley found too much of the zone, and the slugging third baseman sent it out. It gave the Braves an early 2-0 lead, but Kremer was able to evade more danger.
Atlanta opener Aaron Bummer was staying out of trouble through two innings, but that all changed in the third.
The first damage came in the form of a Tyler O’Neill moonshot to left. His 445-foot solo home run showed off the pull-side power, and more importantly, got the Orioles on the board. And after Cedric Mullins reached on a walk, Jordan Westburg somehow outdid O’Neill. Westy’s two-run home run went a whopping 461 feet to center, and it gave Baltimore a 3-2 advantage.
That lead didn’t last long, though.
In the bottom of the third, Olson continued his great afternoon with a solo shot of his own to the right-field bleachers. The first baseman doesn’t tend to miss mistakes, as evidenced by his .938 OPS in the month of June.
The deficit didn’t last long either.
In the top of the fourth, Colton Cowser joined the home run party with a two-run shot. It came on an 0-2 count, normally an incredibly disadvantageous place for a hitter to be. But it was Cowser’s third home run in that count this year, and the outfielder became the third player in baseball to have at least three homers in 0-2 counts. It bumped his batting average to .294 in those spots, too.
That 5-3 lead was far from safe in the back-and-forth affair.
To the bottom of the frame, with runners on first and second, Olson drove in one with his third hit of the day. Riley followed with an RBI-double, and the game was all tied at five. It was nearly one more, too, but a Cowser-Henderson-Gary Sánchez relay cut down Olson at the plate.
Unfortunately for Baltimore, Sánchez was hurt on the play and removed from the contest with right knee pain. Jacob Stallings entered the game behind the dish, already the fifth catcher that the Orioles have used this season.
Kremer’s day was done in the fifth inning. Recording just one out in the frame, it was tied for his shortest start of the season, and his worst outing since April. But the offense picked him up, and the right-hander wouldn’t be in line for the loss.
He wasn’t the only one struggling against this Atlanta lineup.
In the sixth, Scott Blewett loaded the bases with nobody out. Riley, already with two extra-base hits under his belt, had the chance to blow this game open. Blewett minimized the damage, though. Riley struck out on three pitches, Jurickson Profar brought home just one on a groundout, and Drake Baldwin had a weak groundout of his own.
A 6-5 Braves lead could’ve been a lot worse, and it kept Baltimore in striking distance.
It didn’t take long for the Orioles to tie things up in the top of the seventh. Mullins hit a screamer to the alley for a double, and Jackson Holliday wasted no time bringing him home with an RBI-single on the second pitch he saw.
Back and forth we went.
The eighth and ninth innings came and went quietly, and it was on to free baseball.
That's where Ramón Laureano made his presence felt for the first time in the contest. His first hit of the game was a huge one, an RBI-double to plate Jordan Westburg, and it gave the O's a 7-6 lead in the top of the tenth. Ryan O'Hearn was intentionally walked, and up stepped Stallings, who entered the game as an injury replacement.
He came through in the clutch.
In a 3-2 count, the veteran backstop roped a double down the line, plating Laureano and O'Hearn. The three-run advantage was the largest of the day for either club, and the O's held a 9-6 lead heading into the bottom of the frame.
Yennier Cano entered the game for just the second time since his option to Triple-A Norfolk and made quick work of the bottom of the Braves lineup. 9-6 was your final.
It's a series win for the Orioles, and Baltimore has a chance to sweep the series tomorrow morning.