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The Orioles filled the dugout this evening, a much larger turnout than normal about an hour before first pitch. Legends who preceded their arrivals in Baltimore came out of the tunnel one by one and walked onto the field, including some Hall of Famers. Cal Ripken Jr. was introduced and circled the warning track in a red Corvette convertible, spinning wheels allowing him to skip the jog from 30 years earlier.
The numbers 2131 hung from the warehouse again. The 1995 Orioles finished in third place in their division and missed the playoffs again. The 2025 team is in last place and also headed home after the final game. Past and present got to mingle tonight, the younger crowd captivated by the history lesson.
Little did they know that they’d almost end up on the wrong side of history and ignite their own celebration with an absolutely wild finish.
Dodgers right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto tossed a no-hitter for 8 2/3 innings before Jackson Holliday homered to right field. The Orioles loaded the bases, drew a walk and won 4-3 on Emmanuel Rivera's two-run single into center field off Tanner Scott before an announced sellout crowd of 42,612.
Yamamoto threw 112 pitches, the last a 2-1 cutter that bounced back onto the field. Jackson sped up, thinking double, and was signaled home. Yamamoto left the game to a standing ovation from Dodgers fans. He was sensational, walking two batters in the third inning and retiring 19 in a row. He got two easy outs in the ninth on a strikeout and fly ball.
What happened next came out of the Dodger blue.
“I literally can't believe that," said Trevor Rogers. "That's the best baseball game I've ever been a part of, especially the ramifications with the 30-year anniversary of 2,131 and that's our team. We go down fighting to the last out, last pitch. And that's baseball for you. You're never out of the fight, and that's something that everyone in this locker room is going to remember probably forever.”
The Mariners’ Hisashi Iwakuma last no-hit the Orioles on Aug. 12, 2015 in Seattle. The only no-hitter at Camden Yards was spun by the Red Sox’s Hideo Nomo on April 4, 2001. In between was Boston’s Clay Buchholz on Sept. 1, 2007 at Fenway Park.
Tonight would have marked the eighth time that the Orioles were held hitless, but Holliday took over the team lead with his 17th homer. And then it got crazy, just one of the words used to describe the rally.
"Momentum’s a real thing," said interim manager Tony Mansolino, "and off that thing goes."
"That’s all that was on my mind, honestly," Holliday said of the no-hit bid. "Going into the eighth inning, that’s what I was thinking about, ‘Oh man, it’s going to come down to me.’ So I was definitely thinking about it and kind of nervous because it’s kind of a big thing. It was fun being able to break it up. He threw the ball really great. He didn’t make very many mistakes and was lucky to be able to catch one right."
The game somehow got to Rivera, who delivered his second career walk-off.
“Obviously, the game doesn’t end until the final out is made," he said via interpreter Brandon Quinones. "So I think in that moment we all got up from the bench and were super excited that he got that hit to keep the game going, and I thought it was just a great moment.
“He was having an excellent night, he was doing some great work, and I think we’d been trying to battle from the very first at-bat. But I think the moment we got that first hit it kind of opened up everything else from there on out.
“In that situation just trying to stay as calm as possible. Looking for a good pitch to hit and trying to put the ball in play in that situation."
Jeremiah Jackson doubled off Blake Treinen, Gunnar Henderson was hit by a pitch, both runners moved up on a wild pitch and Ryan Mountcastle walked to load the bases. Colton Cowser walked on five pitches and manager Dave Roberts rolled the dice with Scott, who surrendered Samuel Basallo's walk-off homer last night. Rivera lined 1-1 fastball into center field and the entire team mobbed him.
Players chased down Rivera in center field and doused him. The crowd erupted. The Orioles won their fifth game in a row and everyone struggled to make sense of it.
"Pretty crazy, honestly," Holliday said. "I was just going up there looking for a hit and not get out, honestly. Kind of looking for the cutter all night and finally got it, and put a good swing on it. It was definitely a roller coaster of emotions in that at-bat to the final one, and I thought it was awesome.
"We have an awesome group. I don’t think there’s any give-up in us. And that was an awesome at-bat by (Rivera), and all the at-bats before it to kind of set that all up. Thought we did a really nice job toward the end. He had our number in the first eight innings and we finally got to him, so it’s pretty awesome."
"Yeah, that’s wild," Mansolino said. "I don’t know if I’ve ever seen anything like that with how that thing was going. Yamamoto is so good. I think pitch 101 was 98 (mph), you look up on the board. The split was filthy, the curveball, the whole thing, the cutter, the whole thing that he had was no-hit type stuff tonight.
"Credit to our guys. Even in that situation right there in a packed house on such a big night, I feel like the guys, they stayed positive in the dugout, they stayed loose, they stayed energetic. And fortunately, I think some of Cal’s magic resonated and affected us there in the ninth inning."
Rogers said there was a sense of relief after Holliday reached base and circled them.
"Just how dialed in Yamamoto was all night," he said. "That was fun to watch. He was pinpointing everything and that's why he's one of the best in the league. Two outs, never say die. We got one run back and really made it a ball game there with two runs down. And that's where you just keep scrapping, you keep fighting. We were able to pull it out.”
Basallo came out of the game in the fifth inning after Ben Rortvedt’s bunted ball struck him on the right hand. Basallo sailed two practice throws into center field and left with Mansolino and head athletic trainer Scott Barringer.
Pitcher Chayce McDermott arrived today on the 24-hour medical taxi squad in case Dean Kremer goes on the injured list. Basallo, who has right-hand discomfort, will try to stay on the active roster. X-rays came back negative. He wouldn't have played anyway Sunday against lefty Clayton Kershaw in the series finale.
"We're good there," Mansolino said. "Probably sit tomorrow to give him one more day, plus the off-day, and then we’ll have him back in there most likely that first game against Pittsburgh."
Rogers allowed two runs in 5 1/3 innings, his most since July 20 in Tampa, and the eight hits tied his season high. Shawn Dubin inherited two runners in the sixth and stranded them.
Broadcasters Chris Berman and Jon Miller were introduced first during the pregame ceremony, and then came the players: Larry Sheets, Bobby Bonilla, Rafael Palmeiro, Ben McDonald, Al Bumbry, B.J. Surhoff, Brady Anderson, surprise guest Ken Griffey Jr., Harold Baines, Mike Mussina, Jim Palmer and Eddie Murray – the Cooperstown inductees saved for last.
Ripken gave a speech, joined by wife Laura, son Ryan and other family members, including step-children that he called his “bonus kids.” He knelt on the edge of the grass in front of home plate to receive the ceremonial first pitch from Ryan, but Murray coaxed him into moving back to the proper spot.
“Hold on, hold on,” Murray said, waiving his arms. Ripken always viewed Murray as a mentor and tonight was no different.
President Bill Clinton was in the booth when Ripken hit his home run on 2,131, and the Orioles played a video message from him between innings tonight. Maybe an in-person visit would have changed their luck sooner.
Shohei Ohtani led off the first with a single and Teoscar Hernández grounded into a 4-3 double play. The Dodgers led 1-0 in the second when Miguel Rojas led off with a double, Enrique Hernández walked, the runners moved up on a bunt and Ohtani grounded to short with the infield playing back.
Freddie Freeman’s one-out triple didn’t impact the score. Rogers retired the next two batters on a grounder to third baseman Emmanuel Rivera and a fly ball to left.
Rojas doubled again leading off the fifth and went to third base on Enrique Hernández’s single. Rotvedt laid down a sacrifice bunt after Basallo exited, Ohtani struck out and Mooke Betts gave Los Angeles a 2-0 lead with a 104.2 mph line drive that Henderson leaped to knock down but couldn’t keep in his glove.
The game wasn’t official with the Orioles trailing, but 4 ½ innings meant reliving more of 2,131. Ripken emerged from the dugout, coaxed by Palmeiro and Bonilla. Bumby stood in the first base coach’s box. All of them wearing Orioles jerseys.
Palmeiro gave Ripken another push, but baseball’s Iron Man only went a little bit past the dugout before circling back. Can’t delay another game, especially with Yamamoto working on a no-hitter.
The Dodgers scored a run off Albert Suárez in the seventh on Betts’ RBI triple. But "Big Al," as he's called, earned the win after working three innings.
Dylan Beavers and Basallo drew back-to-back walks to start the third and a strikeout and double play ended the threat. Alex Jackson, who replaced Basallo, lined out to left fielder Alex Call at 108.1 mph to lead off the sixth. It felt like a last gasp until two outs in the ninth.
"He was electric tonight," Mansolino said. "Confident, probably not the right word, but optimistic, resilient probably the right words to use for our group. Being resilient and confident every once in a while pays off.”
The Orioles hit four home runs on Sept. 6, 1995 in a 4-2 win over the Angels. Not everything could be replicated tonight, but they only needed one.
They did it their way, breaking up a no-hitter with two outs in the ninth inning or later for the fourth time since 1961 - Holliday, Henderson (2024), Jim Traber (1988) and Davey Johnson (1968) - and stunning the first-place Dodgers.
"This is, for me personally, the game of the year for us," Rogers said. "Just with the failed expectations of this year and we know that, but we keep fighting. We keep supporting each other. We battle for each other and it's been really fun to be part of this group and the past four or five days, we've been playing some really good baseball. Really just take it day by day, finish strong and get ready for a really good 2026.”
* Kremer will play catch Sunday or Monday and avoid the injured list if his forearm feels good. His next start would be skipped.
* Outfielder Tyler O'Neill begins a rehab assignment Sunday with Double-A Chesapeake and then reports to Triple-A Norfolk.
