A big third inning propelled the Orioles to a convincing 9-5 win over the visiting Guardians on Wednesday night at Camden Yards.
For the second consecutive start, Shane Baz gave up a home run to the second batter of the night. Last time, it was a solo shot from Boston’s Mickey Gasper. Tonight, it was a two-run bomb off the bat of Cleveland’s Chase DeLauter.
Given how many of Baz’s appearances have gone this season, it seemed likely that those two early runs would be enough for the visiting Guardians
to win with ease. Coming into this game, Baz had been provided with the least run support of any qualifying starting pitcher in Major League Baseball. Thankfully, for one inning at least, that trend reversed.
Eight of the Orioles nine runs came in the bottom of the third inning. They collected eight hits, walked twice, got hit by a pitch, and benefited from one Guardians error to string together the onslaught.
Leody Taveras and Carlos Narváez led off with back-to-back singles. After a throwing error from pitcher Foster Griffin on a pickoff attempt, Dylan Beavers doubled both of the runners home on a flare that came off the bat at 53.4 mph and landed in the perfect spot beyond the shifted infield and away from any outfielders in the area.
A single for Pete Alonso followed by a Coby Mayo walk loaded the bases before Christian Encarnacion-Strand was hit by a pitch to score Beavers to make a 3-2 game. Jackson Holliday then drove in Alonso on a single into left field for the fourth run of the inning. Rece Hinds nearly left the yard, but had to settle for an RBI sac fly onto the left field warning track to increase the lead to 5-2. From there it was a trio of run-scoring singles from Jeremiah Jackson, Leody Taveras, and Beavers to put a cap on the outburst.
All eight of those runs were charged to Cleveland starter Foster Griffin, who entered the day with impressive season totals. Griffin also faced the Orioles earlier this year as a member of the Washington Nationals. On that June day he tossed seven innings and allowed just one unearned run on three hits, two walks, and nine strikeouts. The outcome was quite different tonight, so kudos to the Orioles for making some improvements in that matchup.
At the same time Baz was cruising on the mound for the O’s. From the second inning through the fifth inning, he kept traffic to a minimum, allowing one hit, a walk, and a hit by pitch, but none of them came in the same inning. It felt like the Orioles might be able to coast to the series win.
Of course, that wasn’t too be. Baz returned to the mound for the sixth inning, and even retired the first two batters he faced. And then he started to fade. First, he hit Travis Bazzana to put a runner on base. Then, Nathaniel Lowe made him pay with a 407-foot homer that sailed onto the right field flag court to draw the Guardians within four runs.
The scoring didn’t stop there, and Baz remained in the game. Angel Genao singled, and then came into score on a Patrick Bailey double that bounced off the base of the right field wall. That was the end of the line for Baz. He was lifted for Josh Walker, who then recorded the third out of the inning without further damage.
Baz didn’t have his best stuff in this game. His velocity was down a tick, and there wasn’t a ton of swing-and-miss in the Cleveland bats. He was also a bit wild, hitting two batters in addition to his one walk. His 5.2 innings tonight pushed him to 169 frames on the season. That’s already more than the 166.1 innings he tossed in all of 2025, so maybe he is showing some fatigue. But the baseball gods owed him a positive outcome tonight. He wasn’t great, but his offense finally provided some support.
The Orioles bullpen was quite solid in this one. Walker stayed on the seventh inning after recording the final out of the sixth and kept the Guardians off the board. Yennier Cano was called on the eighth, and he had issues, allowing two base runners and getting just one out. But manager Craig Albernaz didn’t allow a meltdown to transpire. He turned to Rico Garcia, who was probably the team’s best hurler of the day. He tossed 1.2 shutout innings and struck out three for his seventh save of the season.
Almost all of the Orioles offensive productive was reserved for that third inning, but they did score one more in the sixth inning. Coby Mayo, facing the right-handed Franco Aleman, went deep for the 22nd time this season. His home run went down as unearned because moments earlier he hit a weak foul pop up that José Ramírez just straight up dropped.
This was a nice win for the O’s. They scored nine runs without Gunnar Henderson, Blaze Alexander, or Samuel Basallo, and largely without extra base hits. Eight of their 10 hits were singles, and the Mayo homer, while nice, was largely inconsequential. Baz was not particularly good, but his bullpen and lineup supported him, which was a nice change of pace for him.
The Blue Jays and Rangers also lost tonight, so the Orioles gained ground on everyone they needed to in the AL wild card race. Their path to a postseason place remains slim, but it does exist.
The O’s are off on Thursday before beginning another big series on Friday, this time in Toronto. Chris Bassitt (6-5, 4.96 ERA) will start the opener against his former club. First pitch is set for 7:07 from Rogers Centre.
Most Birdland Player, Wednesday, September 9, 2026
Here are a few players for your consideration for MBP in tonight’s win:
- Dylan Beavers (2-for-5, three RBI)
- Josh Walker (cleaned up for Baz in the sixth inning)
- Rico Garcia (1.2 scoreless innings, got out of Cano’s jam)
- Shane Baz (finally got some run support)
- Coby Mayo (homer off a righty, made the error hurt)
