Matt Olson hammered a three-run home run with two outs in the 10th inning and the visiting Atlanta Braves held on to beat the Baltimore Orioles 7-6 on Friday night in the opener of a three-game series.
Drake Baldwin’s 20th homer of the season was a one-out, game-tying blast in the eighth inning for Atlanta, which won for the seventh time in its last nine games. Michael Harris II, Austin Riley and Joey Bart each provided two hits and Elieser Hernandez, making his first appearance in the major leagues since 2024, was the winning pitcher with three shutout innings in relief.
Hernandez posted his first big-league victory since 2022.
Andrew Kittredge (1-2) took the loss, though none of the four runs he allowed were earned.
The Braves took the lead in the 10th on Jim Jarvis’ fielder’s choice grounder that Jackson Holliday threw away for an error to put runners at second and third and no outs. The Braves they nearly didn’t extend their margin, however, with the next two batters striking out. But down to his last strike, Olson hit his 27th homer of the season.
The big Atlanta rally came after the Orioles loaded the bases in the ninth with three consecutive batters reaching with two outs off Hernandez, who recovered to retire Taylor Ward on a groundout after Ward worked a 3-0 count. Baltimore stranded 10 runners through nine innings.
Christian Encarnacion-Strand, in just his fifth game with the Orioles, drove in four runs, with two of those coming with a 10th-inning homer.
Orioles starter Trevor Rogers pitched seven strong innings, but he wasn’t rewarded despite holding the Braves to two runs on six hits and no walks. He struck out six in an 88-pitch effort.
It marked the seventh consecutive outing for Rogers in which he didn’t allow more than two runs. Baldwin homered off reliever Rico Garcia.
Starter Grant Holmes got Atlanta through five innings, giving up three runs on six hits with two walks and five strikeouts. He has a dozen straight starts without surrendering more than three runs.
The Orioles took an early lead with a two-out rally in the second inning that came with Encarnacion-Strand’s two-run double.
Atlanta pulled even in the fourth on Mauricio Dubon’s sacrifice fly and Riley’s two-out, run-scoring single.
Holliday’s sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fourth regained the lead for Baltimore.
After the Braves tied the score in the eighth, Baltimore’s Colton Cowser reached third base with two outs in the bottom of the inning but was stranded there.
–Field Level Media
