The Baltimore Orioles returned to Camden Yards on Friday to begin their first home series after the MLB All-Star break. A crowd of 35,775 fans not only packed OPACY on the first of two Hawaiian Shirt nights, they also saw the opening of the Corona flag court bar. What they didn’t see was an Orioles win as the Atlanta Braves (61-42) defeated the Birds 7-6 in 10 innings.
Trevor Rogers deserved better for his 7.0 inning start. He left the game with the O’s leading 3-2 after allowing 2 runs on 6 hits with 6 strike outs and threw 88 pitches (72 K’s) to 26 batters.
Rico Garcia came in to pitch in the eighth inning and surrendered a game tying homerun to Atlanta’s Drake Baldwin.
Then came the 10th inning. Andrew Kittredge (1-2) allowed a lead-off single that put runners on first and third (the ghost runner). Jackson Holliday the mase a good stop on a ground ball but threw the ball over Gunnar Henderson‘s head and into the outfield allowing an unearned run to score, Two strike outs later with runners on second and third, Matt Olson hit a three-run homerun to put the Braves up 7-3.
The Orioles may not have been in this position had they been able to cash in with the bases loaded and two outs in the ninth. Atlanta intentionally walked Henderson to load the bases for Taylor Ward (1 for 5, 2 R) who grounded out to third.
The Orioles attempted a comeback in their half of the 10th. Jeremiah Jackson hit a pinch-hit RBI sacrifice fly and then Christian Encarnacion-Strand (2 for 4, 2 B, HR, R, 4 RBI, BB) hit a two-run homerun to right center field to draw the Birds within one. Sam Huff ultimately struck out swinging to end the game.
CES also hit a two-RBI double in the second inning to open the Orioles’ scoring.
Holliday’s fourth inning sacrifice fly allowed Ward to score the team’s third run.
Baltimore has now won 7 of its last 10 games.
2026 Record: 50-54
Next Game: Sat. 7/25 @ 7:05 pm vs. Atlanta Braves
