Orioles manager Brandon Hyde was in the dugout yelling “blow, blow, blow.”
Anthony Santander was standing in the batter’s box, wishing, hoping, willing for a gust of wind to send the ball just far enough over the wall.
Players in the dugout leaned over the railing, everyone vying for an angle to see if they were heading to extra innings or to the field to celebrate.
It was the latter, and boy did this team badly need something to celebrate. Down to the last out of regulation, Santander sent the ball 390 feet, just far enough to land in the stands, as the Orioles walked off the Giants 5-3 Thursday at Camden Yards.
As soon as it went out, Santander turned to the dugout. On paper, this, the Orioles’ first win since Saturday and just their third in their last 11 games, was just another victory. But, for this team, this moment meant much more.
“I was saying, ‘let’s go,’” Santander said to his teammates as he started to run the bases. “I let them know, that’s who we are. We know that we have a lot of hits like that, a lot of walk-offs. That’s good energy, the energy we need for the next week.”
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The win dropped their magic number to five. They can clinch a playoff spot as early as Sunday, but they will have to do it by beating the red-hot Detroit Tigers, who won two of three against them last weekend.
With 10 games left, the Orioles are almost certain to make the playoffs. The same would have been true even if they had not won Thursday, but, with the way they’ve been playing, this could be the catalyst to bring that energy back.
“It was a breath of fresh air, for sure,” pitcher Zach Eflin, who allowed two runs in six innings, said. “A lot of emotion in the win today with Tony’s walk-off homer. I think that helps everybody out, so we’re looking to take that momentum into the next series.”
There were signs earlier in the game, too, that things could be turning around for the Orioles. In the fourth inning, Adley Rutschman had a timely double to send in the Orioles’ first run of the day.
The team goes as Rutschman goes. When he struggles, as he has over the past month, so do the Orioles. Entering Thursday, he was hitting .182 with a .516 OPS in the last month, the team going 11-16 in that stretch. With the big double Thursday, and a home run last weekend against Detroit, he could be turning the corner.
“Nice to see Adley come through there. He’s so important to us,” Hyde said. “Hopefully that can get him going too. Hopefully he can end the season strong. It’s been a really tough second half. For him to get a big hit there, hopefully that can get his confidence going too.”
Jackson Holliday also came through, following Rutschman with a single to send in two more runs and making a big defensive play in the next inning to give the Orioles a 3-2 lead. The team is hoping Ramón Urías and Jordan Westburg, who started rehab assignments Thursday, will make it back, but if they don’t, and maybe even if they do, having a confident Holliday available can only help them.
“I think the main focus that I’ve been working on lately is just trying to hit line drives with every pitch,” Holliday said. “It’s something [hitting coach Cody] Asche and I have been talking about, and past two games I’ve been able to do that. So, no different, just trying to hit a line drive up the middle and got a changeup that I saw early, and I was able to stay through it.”
From there, it should have been smooth sailing. Seranthony Domínguez — who, if it wasn’t official before, is the Orioles’ closer with Craig Kimbrel designated for assignment — took the mound with a 3-2 lead in the top of the ninth. Until Thursday, solo homers have been his vice. This time, it was command.
Domínguez entered the game with a 3-2 lead. He walked leadoff batter Patrick Bailey on six pitches, then Heliot Ramos on four. Casey Schmitt then sent a towering fly ball to right-center. Austin Slater and Cedric Mullins collided reaching for it, allowing Bailey to score to tie the game. Mullins was slow to get up but stayed in the game.
Gregory Soto had to replace Domínguez and got the Orioles out of the inning. It was Domínguez’s first blown save.
It didn’t end up making a difference, because the offense picked him up. In the bottom of the ninth, Gunnar Henderson hit a single to set up Santander, who played hero with the walk-off homer.
“That was an unbelievable win,” Holliday said. “Obviously, we had some big hits and Eflin threw the ball great and bullpen kind of shut them down. So it was a good win to kind of build into these next two series that are probably really important.”
