Bryan Baker turned to watch the flight of another baseball heading for the center field fence. He stood with his hand on his hip, certain of the outcome. Pete Alonso knew it, too, carrying his bat most of the way to first base before flipping it in celebration.
A pair of two-run homers off Baker in the eighth inning made a 6-2 lead disappear, and the Orioles would be tested to get back up again, knowing how every loss rips into their hopes for a playoff push and increases the likelihood that the front office sells at the trade deadline.
They couldn't get back on their feet.
The Mets scored a run against Yennnie Cano in the top of the 10th inning and defeated the Orioles 7-6 before an announced Hawaiian shirt crowd of 35,200 at Camden Yards.
Juan Soto had an RBI single off Cano. The Mets loaded the bases with one out and couldn't pad their lead, but it didn't matter. Huascar Brazobán kept the automatic runner at second base.
The Orioles failed to get within eight games of .500, instead falling to 40-50.
Jackson Holliday hit his 12th home run, putting another ball into the bullpen against Mets reliever Alex Carrillo in the seventh. But Francisco Lindor and Alonso homered in the eighth and Baker didn’t retire a batter. Singles preceded both blasts.
Ryan O’Hearn walked and Colton Cowser singled off former Orioles reliever Reed Garrett in the bottom of the eighth, but Tyler O’Neill grounded into a 5-3 double play. Félix Bautista struck out three batters in the ninth and stranded a runner at second base, the game carried into extras, and the Mets thrilled the large contingent of fans who made the trip to Baltimore.
Brandon Young understood the assignment. Make an impact and an impression. Try to influence the outcome of the game and whether he stays in a rotation that’s missing multiple starters.
Young tossed in an immaculate inning for good measure. And teammates had the rookie’s back after he lost a slim lead.
O’Hearn doubled with the bases loaded and no outs in the sixth to score two runs and move the Orioles ahead again, and Ramón Laureano followed with a two-run single.
Young worked a career-high 5 1/3 innings, allowing two runs and five hits, and left to a standing ovation with his pitch count at 66. Gregory Soto stranded an inherited runner in scoring position and Seranthony Domínguez tossed a scoreless seventh before Baker faltered in the eighth.
Ronny Mauricio led off the sixth with a game-tying home run onto the flag court in right after Young retired 14 of the first 16 batters and struck out six. Back-to-back doubles followed from Brett Baty and Brandon Nimmo.
The Orioles loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom half of the inning on Holliday’s hit-by-pitch and singles from Jordan Westburg and Gunnar Henderson. O’Hearn doubled, Laureano singled, and Clay Holmes was removed with the Orioles ahead 5-2.
Young hadn’t gone more than 4 2/3 innings in his first four major league starts. He struck out the side on nine pitches in the fifth, on two splits and a 95.6 mph fastball, for the Orioles’ first immaculate inning since Kevin Gausman in the seventh against Cleveland on April 23, 2018.
B.J. Ryan (1999), Mike Mussina (1998) and Jimmy Key (1998) also achieved the feat with the Orioles. The club retrieved the ball for Young, with MASN’s Melanie Newman reporting that O’Hearn traded a bat for it.
The Mets finally began to make loud contact in the sixth. Mauricio homered on a splitter and Baty’s double was 109.5 mph off the bat. Nimmo doubled into left-center field at 102.4.
Young retired the first eight batters before Baty’s ground ball single in the third. He struck out three of the first four, including Nimmo on a 95.6 mph fastball and Juan Soto on a splitter.
Soto lined a single into right field with one out in the fourth and Alonso grounded into a 3-6-1 double play on Young’s 45th pitch.
The game started 46 minutes late due to inclement weather, and neither team scored until Holliday’s two-out RBI single in the third. Holliday followed Sunday’s four-hit game with a bouncer into center field after Cedric Mullins walked with one out and advanced on Jacob Stallings’ grounder.
Holmes hadn’t allowed an earned run at Camden Yards in 14 2/3 innings before the third. And it got worse for him later.
* Alex Jackson entered in the ninth, the 50th player used by the Orioles this season and the sixth catcher to tie the franchise record. It's been done four times.
* Triple-A Norfolk catcher Samuel Basallo hit his 17th homer, a three-run shot in the fourth inning, and added an RBI single. TT Bowens had a three-run shot in the fifth, his eighth homer this season.
Pitcher Nick Richmond was transferred from Norfolk to Double-A Chesapeake.
High-A Aberdeen pitcher Sebastian Gongora was placed on the seven-day injured list with left shoulder inflammation.
Ben Vespi struck out nine batters in 4 1/3 innings for Single-A Delmarva. He allowed four runs and six hits.