The Orioles have won nine games in their history after falling behind by at least seven runs. Until yesterday, they hadn’t done it since 2009.

To put it in perspective, second baseman Jackson Holliday was 5 years old.

Those playoff odds got another bump with yesterday’s 10-9, 12-inning victory over the Tigers. Continue to breathe normally. Let’s see how they read after a weekend series against the Phillies at Camden Yards. And it still won’t matter, but I digress …

“Those boys in that clubhouse, they’re a resilient bunch. They take punches and keep on going. Wish we didn’t have to,” manager Craig Albernaz told the media afterward.

“It was a pretty chaotic game.”

Let’s flash back to June 30, 2009 for more chaos, when I left Camden Yards after filing my pregame notes, sat at the Liberatore’s bar in Eldersburg and watched the Orioles fall behind 9-1 in the fourth inning against the Red Sox and 10-1 in the seventh. They scored five times in the bottom of the seventh and five times in the eighth for an 11-10 win.  

Future Hall of Famer John Smoltz started for the Red Sox. The Tigers had two-time Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal on the mound yesterday. Luis Salazar came off the bench and went 2-for-2 with three RBIs. Jackson Holliday entered late yesterday and was 2-for-3 with three RBIs. Nick Markakis put the Orioles ahead in the eighth with a two-run double. Colton Cowser gave the Orioles a 10-9 lead in the 12th with his single.  

I sat on my couch yesterday. The bar was more fun.

(My future wife was at the game and her friends insisted on leaving, even though she kept saying, “We’re going to come back and win!”)

The bullpen isn’t supposed to be carrying the 2026 team, but that’s how it feels sometimes. Forget about Tuesday. Be like everyone else and pretend it didn’t happen.

Albernaz used six relievers yesterday and they responded by allowing one earned run and two hits over six innings. The ‘pen tossed 4 1/3 scoreless on Monday after allowing only an unearned run in 6 2/3 innings Sunday.

Orioles relievers began yesterday with the second-lowest ERA in the majors since June 16.

Rico Garcia surrendered a two-run homer to Spencer Torkelson on his first pitch in the 11th inning – his fourth in the last five appearances. It’s one unearned because of the automatic, not ghost, runner. He recorded a save Monday night. But Anthony Nunez got out of a jam in the seventh, Yennier Cano retired the side in order in the eighth – teams seeking relievers have got to be checking on his availability – and Tyler Wells tossed two scoreless innings.

Grant Wolfram earned the win, getting two crucial outs after the Tigers had runners on first and second with no outs in the 12th. He fanned Dillon Dingler to swing the inning in his favor. And Andrew Kittredge notched his fourth save by inducing a ground ball.

Losing yesterday would have felt like a dagger, a third series in a row dropped with the deadline barreling toward us. A win might not matter, but it keeps the Orioles in the buyers conversation.

“We’re not trying to show the front office anything,” Albernaz said in his scrum. “Mike (Elias) and his group, they’re gonna do what’s best for us and what they feel is best for the organization, the team. Our guys block out that noise.

“We’re just trying to control what we can control. … Like I said before, I like our guys, and I would bet on our guys.”

*The Phillies haven’t identified their starter for Friday, but left-hander Cristopher Sánchez takes the ball Saturday with a 13-4 record and 2.74 ERA.

Tyler O’Neill probably gets back into the lineup. He’s 12-for-42 this month after going 0-for-3 yesterday.

O’Neill is 5-for-19 as a pinch-hitter. His two home runs leave him one short of the club’s single-season record shared by Whitey Herzog in 1962, Sam Bowens in 1967, Pat Kelly in 1979, Jim Dwyer in 1986 and Sam Horn in 1991.

Dwyer holds the Orioles all-time pinch-hit home run record with nine, per STATS. Benny Ayala is next with seven, followed by Kelly with six, and Horn, Terry Crowley and Curt Motton with five.

*Former reliever Tommy Hunter will present first baseman Chris Davis for the Orioles Hall of Fame, with the luncheon Friday at Camden Yards and the ceremony the following day.

Hunter pitched for the Orioles from 2011-15, when they traded him to the Cubs for outfielder Junior Lake. He re-signed with the club in August 2016 after Cleveland released him and signed with the Rays in February 2017.

Hunter retired after the Mets released him in June 2023. He lives in Ohio with his wife Karen and four children.

What’s he doing now?

Still being fast with a quip.

“Outside of just gazing into my wife’s eyes 24/7 and just living in constant bliss … No, it’s good,” he said. “I’m consumed with recruiting 10- and 11-year-old baseball players for our team right now. And I actually have a job. I started working with my agent (Mike Moye) and filling in some of his travel, so I’m gonna get my agents license soon and we’re going to get that kind of moving along.

“I’m excited about that. He’s got some guys coming up and it’ll be pretty fun to watch them. He’s a good one. We’re kind of trying to help each other out right now. I say this in a funny way, they’re getting a little old and I’m fresh out, so a new perspective, a younger perspective, I guess, is playing its part in this.”