Matt Olson’s 10th-inning homer helps Braves open trip with dramatic defeat of Orioles
· Yahoo Sports
Holding down the Braves’ offense for nine innings is doable, especially if your pitchers are able to keep the ball in the yard.
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But the Baltimore Orioles learned in Friday’s series opener against Atlanta that it gets harder the longer a game goes on.
The Braves used Matt Olson’s two-out, three-run homer to explode for four runs in the 10th, more than they scored in the first nine combined.
As it turned out, the Braves needed every single one of those runs as Baltimore responded with three runs in the bottom of the 10th thanks in large part to Christian Encarnacion-Strand’s two-out, two-run homer. But Dylan Lee got a strikeout of replacement catcher Sam Huff to close out a 7-6 victory to open the road trip.
With the win, the Braves improved to 6-2 since the All-Star break. And with Drake Baldwin adding a game-tying solo shot in the eighth to redeem a three-strikeout night, Atlanta has hit 17 homers in those eight games.
The bottom of the order posted the first run of the top of the 10th. A Joey Bart bloop single moved pinch-automatic runner Brewer Hicklen to third base and Jim Jarvis brought him home with an RBI groundout that was complicated by a blooper of a throwing error by Jackson Holliday at second base.
The Braves quite possibly wouldn’t have made it to extra innings without Elieser Hernández (1-0), who worked the seventh through ninth innings without allowing a run in his Braves debut. He was remarkably strong for the majority of his outing, which was his first at the major league level since 2024, retiring eight of the first nine batters he faced to get Atlanta one out away from extra innings.
But Baltimore then loaded the bases on a walk, a single and an intentional walk to bring up Taylor Ward. When Hernández fell behind 3-0, it seemed the Braves were headed for heartbreak. But Hernández delivered two fastball strikes to bring the count full and then induced a hard grounder to third —with an assist from Austin Riley — to pull off the Houdini act.
The 10th-inning surge at the plate delivered Hernández his major league win since 2022.
Olson finished with two hits, including his team-high 27th homer of the season off Andrew Kittredge (1-2), and Michael Harris II, Riley and Bart each chipped in two hits apiece.
Encarnacion-Strand accounted for four of the Orioles’ six RBIs.
The Orioles got to Atlanta starter Grant Holmes and jumped ahead 2-0 in the bottom of the second on a two-out rally. After the first two batters were retired, Leody Taveras worked a walk on an ABS challenge, Jackson Holliday roped a single to right and Encarnacion-Strand laced a two-run double to left on the fourth consecutive fastball thrown by Holmes after fouling off the prior three.
Atlanta got the runs back in the fourth. Ozzie Albies singled and Harris doubled to put two in scoring position. Mauricio Dubón plated one run with a sacrifice fly and Austin Riley tied the game at 2 with a two-out RBI single, beginning a _-hit night.
Unfortunately for the Braves, the game didn’t stay tied long. The first two batters of the Baltimore fourth reached and moved into scoring position on a sac bunt. Holliday restored the Orioles’ lead with a sac fly before Holmes got a groundout to third to strand a runner at second.
Holmes needed 91 pitches to get through five innings, giving up three runs on six hits with five strikeouts and two walks.
Danny Young followed with an extended but scoreless sixth inning before the Braves turned things over to Hernández.
After the Braves only managed two runs on six hits over seven innings against Trevor Rogers, Baldwin got to Rico Garcia for his 20th homer, officially surpassing the 19 he had as a rookie.