For a few tense innings, it looked like Baltimore was headed straight back into the same kind of ending it got Friday night. The Orioles had a lead, lost it, and were staring at another game that might have slipped away late.
Instead, they found a way to flip the script.
Dylan Beavers delivered the decisive swing with a two-out, walk-off single in the ninth, scoring Jackson Holliday and sending the Orioles to a 3-2 win over the Braves. Atlanta’s defense helped Baltimore along at times, but Beavers finished the job by lining a hit against Didier Fuentes’ 100 mph fastball and ending the game before it could drift into extras.
“It’s definitely a big win,” manager Craig Albernaz said. “I mean, any win is a big win, but a tight game like that?”
That kind of result carries extra weight with the Aug. 3 trade deadline closing in. Baltimore is 51-54, three games under .500 and 2.5 games out of the final wild-card spot as the day ended. There are seven games left before the deadline, and the Orioles are still trying to sort out what kind of team they are in a market that has been slow to develop.
Holliday put it plainly.
“It’s time for us to bear down and win some games here,” Holliday said. “Obviously, we want to make a push for the playoffs and these games are really important, and we unfortunately got to see what the other side of everything looks like last year.
I know I don’t want to experience that. I want to go, I want to have a chance to play in the playoffs and have a chance to win the World Series, and I think these games are very important.”
The Orioles had a chance to separate themselves in the seventh, and they let it slip. Braves shortstop Jim Jarvis dropped his second pop-up of the game, handing Baltimore a gift, but Holliday slowed up on his way from first and couldn’t score. Gunnar Henderson then struck out, and the inning ended without Baltimore cashing in.
Holliday took responsibility afterward.
“I definitely didn’t give the effort to have the chance to score,” Holliday said. “It’s something that won’t happen again.”
That missed chance mattered because Atlanta answered right away. Rico Garcia, who had already allowed a game-tying home run in the eighth inning Friday, did it again Saturday. Ozzie Albies tied the game with a home run in the eighth, wiping out Baltimore’s one-run edge.
Albernaz said the decision to return to Garcia made sense given the matchup.
“He’s one of the best relievers,” Albernaz said when asked about going back to Garcia. “We’ve already used Wolfie, and Rico’s been a guy for us.”
The Orioles got the last word anyway. Holliday started the ninth with a double that got past the dive of left fielder Mauricio Dubón. Colton Cowser followed with a deep flyout that moved Holliday to third, and Beavers ended it from there.
“It’s exciting to help the team win, whether it’s a walk-off or in the fifth inning,” Beavers said. “I think it’s all great. But, yeah, it’s exciting when your whole team gets behind you and everyone’s fired up.”
Baltimore’s rotation kept giving the club a chance, too. Brandon Young turned in 6 1/3 innings of one-run ball, allowing four hits and two walks while striking out six. His ERA dropped to 3.13.
Young leaned on his splitter more than usual against a left-handed Braves lineup, and it paid off. He used the pitch more than any other on Saturday and got five of his 12 whiffs with it. Another five came on his slider.
A “small, little tweak” to the splitter a couple of weeks ago helped him, Young said, so he could “feel more consistent with the locations on it. I felt pretty good with it tonight.”
Baltimore’s first lead came after another Braves mistake. Jarvis dropped a pop-up from Pete Alonso, then Taylor Ward and Christian Encarnacion-Strand followed with singles.
Encarnacion-Strand’s hit, which tipped off Jarvis’ glove, gave him his ninth RBI in six games, making him the first Orioles player to do that in so few games. He has made an immediate impact since arriving after the All-Star break to replace Blaze Alexander, who broke his hand.
“He’s been awesome,” said Holliday, whose uncle coaches at Oklahoma State, where Encarnacion-Strand spent his junior year.
“I always knew he was going to be a great player and a big leaguer,” Holliday continued. “It’s been a lot of fun to watch him do his thing, and I got to see him in Triple-A this year, and I knew it was only a matter of time.”
Henderson struck out three times, including with two runners in scoring position in the eighth, but he also supplied a solo homer off Bryce Elder in the fifth to build Baltimore’s lead. Young gave up Atlanta’s first run in the sixth, when Matt Olson walked, Michael Harris II doubled and Dubón brought him home with a groundout.
The Orioles had seen one close game turn into a mess the night before. This time, they held on long enough to finish it themselves.
“I think everyone’s aware of it,” Beavers said of the looming trade deadline. “But, typically, it’s just kind of a ‘go win the day’ mentality. Show up every day and take that game.”
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