On America’s 250th birthday, the Orioles celebrated in style.
The Birds’ bats dazzled with some early fireworks, roughing up Reds fireballer Hunter Greene for eight runs in the first four innings, and the O’s held the line from there for an 8-5 victory in Cincinnati. Brandon Young struggled early but hung in to earn his seventh win, freshly minted All-Star Adley Rutschman had a pair of doubles, and new closer Tyler Wells notched his second save in as many nights.
One might have thought the Orioles were unlucky to be the first team this season to face All-Star flamethrower Hunter Greene, who was making his season debut for the Reds after undergoing surgery in March to remove bone chips from his elbow. Greene was the hardest-throwing starting pitcher in baseball in 2025, and if you thought he might need some time to ramp up to full velocity, uh, think again. In the first inning alone, Greene fired 11 pitches clocked at over 100 mph.
But that doesn’t mean the Orioles were intimidated. Gunnar Henderson lined Greene’s first pitch of the year, a 100.3-mph four-seamer, straight up the middle for a single. With two outs, Pete Alonso worked a walk after a fantastic, nine-pitch at-bat, five of which were triple digit heaters. That brought up Samuel Basallo, who similarly worked the count full.
On 3-2, Greene tried to pump another fastball past Basallo. Mistake. Samuel was more than ready for it, connecting right on the barrel and smashing it deep into the right-center field seats. That, my friends, is an Earl Weaver Special. What a blast from the rookie on 100-mph heat against a tough pitcher. I like Samuel Basallo.
The Orioles had to be feeling pretty good at that point, handing a 3-0 lead to their de facto ace, Brandon Young. This was a rematch against the team Young faced in his major league debut last April — which was also against Greene, coincidentally — but this version of Brandon is much better than that overmatched rookie from last year. In his 13 starts this season before tonight, only once had Young allowed more than three runs. So this lead was definitely going to hold, no question about it.
Yeah, uh, about that. The Reds had other ideas, and it took them less than two innings to storm back and grab the lead for themselves. They plated one in the first on an RBI single by Eugenio Suárez, and things really escalated in the second. The first three batters of the inning all tagged Young for base hits — a single, double, and triple, in that order — and in a flash, the game was tied. Two batters later, Elly De La Cruz ripped a go-ahead RBI single to right, and the early 3-0 O’s lead had become a 4-3 deficit.
But fear not: the Orioles’ offense wasn’t done bashing Greene. The Hunter became the hunted, if you will. (Now I’m just recycling puns from my Hunter Greene recap last year.) The O’s knocked him out of the game with an extended fourth-inning rally, which began with a Colton Cowser single and a Leody Taveras walk. Jackson Holliday nearly mucked things up by trying to bunt, making one futile attempt that he popped up (foul, luckily) before Greene did his work for him by uncorking a wild pitch to advance the runners. The bunt now off, Holliday worked a walk to load the bases.
Up came Blaze Alexander, perhaps the best #9 hitter in the league, and he did his thing once again by lacing a two-run single to right field, putting the O’s back in front, 5-4. Two batters later, newly minted All-Star Adley Rutschman proved why he was selected, mashing his second double of the game to plate Holliday and Alexander.
The O’s lead was up to 7-4, and a visibly fatigued Greene was done for the night. He lasted just 3.2 innings and surrendered a career-worst eight runs, the last one scoring on a Pete Alonso RBI single off reliever Sam Moll. I know it was Greene’s first start of the year and maybe he’s rusty, but still, great job by the Birds’ bats to put up that kind of damage against one of baseball’s most intimidating pitchers.
Young, with new life, kept the Reds off the board from there, though he needed a little help. He tossed a scoreless fourth and fifth and returned for the sixth with his pitch count escalating. He allowed a leadoff walk and a sharp single, and at 102 pitches, he was done for the night. It wasn’t Young’s finest outing — five innings, four runs — but he owes a debt of gratitude to Grant Wolfram, who escaped Young’s two-on, no-out jam on just three pitches by inducing a double play and a groundout to second.
In the seventh, it was Wolfram’s turn to get into trouble with a leadoff walk, and Yennier Cano wasn’t quite as generous at bailing him out. The inherited run scored on a Suárez RBI single to make it 8-5, though Cano didn’t allow any runs of his own. The O’s caught a break prior to that when JJ Bleday bounced a hit into right field and greedily tried to take second base, only to get thrown out by Taveras. If not for that baserunning blunder, the Reds might’ve put together a more threatening rally.
Andrew Kittredge mowed through a perfect eighth and, with a three-run lead in the ninth, Craig Albernaz again entrusted Tyler Wells with a save situation. Wells, the closer replacement for the injured Ryan Helsley, was seeking to record saves in back-to-back games for the first time in his career.
He got it done, but it wasn’t easy. A De La Cruz leadoff single and Sal Stewart walk immediately brought the potential tying run to the plate with nobody out. Hoo boy. Can’t we just have one stress-free win? But Wells locked it down from there, retiring Bleday on a foulout, Suárez on a fly to center — on a nifty running catch by Cowser — and Nathaniel Lowe on a popout to short. Nice job by Tyler to not let that inning get away from him.
Orioles win! The Birds now head into Sunday’s finale with the chance to earn their first sweep since late May and their first four-game winning streak of the season. And maybe they’ll give O’s fans a reason to feel just a little bit more optimistic about this team.
