BALTIMORE (AP) — In less than a year at the major league level, Dylan Beavers has already delivered three walk-off victories for the Baltimore Orioles.
The latest came at a time when every win feels big.
Beavers' RBI single with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning lifted the Orioles over the Atlanta Braves 3-2 on Saturday night, pulling Baltimore within 2 1/2 games of a postseason spot. Beavers, who made his debut last August, also had a walk-off
single and a walk-off home run in September.
Only Freddie Freeman of the Dodgers (four) has had more walk-off plate appeareances than Beavers since the start of last season — although several other players have three.
“It's exciting to help the team win, whether it's a walk-off or in the fifth inning,” Beavers said. “It's exciting when your whole team gets behind you and everyone's fired up.”
Just more than a week before the trade deadline, the Orioles are one of baseball's most intriguing teams. Outfielder Taylor Ward and left-hander Trevor Rogers could be worth something on the trade market, but Baltimore is by no means out of contention and could well end up being a buyer.
So each day has the potential to push the Orioles in one direction or another. They lost in 10 innings to the Braves on Friday, then rebounded with Saturday's win.
“It's time for us to bear down and win some games here,” said Jackson Holliday, who scored the winning run Saturday. “Obviously we want to make a push for the playoffs, and these wins are really important. We unfortunately got to see what the other side of everything looks like last year (when the Orioles were sellers and missed the postseason.)”
Although the game ended on a happy note, Holliday admitted he could have run harder from first base in the seventh when Pete Alonso's popup was dropped with two outs. Holliday ended up on third but might have been able to score.
“I definitely didn't give the effort to have a chance to score — something that won't happen again," he said. "That can't happen.”
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