OK, folks. That was fun.
The Orioles pulled off their most incredible victory of the young season, rallying back from a six-run deficit in the sixth to score eight unanswered runs and shock the Diamondbacks, 9-7. Jeremiah Jackson’s grand slam — the first of his two homers — whittled away the deficit in the sixth before Pete Alonso delivered his most momentous hit as an Oriole, a go-ahead two-run homer in the seventh that sent Camden Yards into hysterics. It was the Orioles’ sixth win in their last seven games, and the kind of exhilarating, improbable victory that makes you think that — just maybe — this 2026 Orioles team might turn out to be a lot of fun.
The emotional whirlwind of tonight’s game was truly wild. I cannot stress enough how frustrating and lackluster the first 5.5 innings of this game were, before it brilliantly transformed into one of the most awesome O’s comebacks in recent memory.
People, this game was over in the sixth inning. Finished. Done. Finito. The Orioles were dead and buried. They were down by six runs, 7-1, and essentially doomed to a forgettable, uncompetitive defeat. It was all over but the shouting. And then, delightfully, it wasn’t.
We’ll start with the bottom of the sixth, where the game turned on its head. After five innings of getting dominated by Diamondbacks starter Ryne Nelson, the O’s offense roared to life. Pete Alonso led off the frame with a double, and Nelson was pulled after 5.1 strong innings. Had Arizona manager Torey Lovullo known what was about to happen to his bullpen, he might’ve stuck with his starter a bit longer.
The Orioles jumped all over reliever Taylor Rashi. Dylan Beavers and Leody Taveras both singled, plating Alonso, and Colton Cowser walked to load the bases. Rashi tried to fool Jeremiah Jackson with a slider, only to leave it flat in the middle of the zone, and Jackson didn’t miss. One mighty swing later, he’d deposited a momentum-shifting grand slam into the left-field seats, the first salami of his career.
Just like that, the Orioles’ deficit was whittled to just one run, 7-6. Five innings of offensive frustration were cast aside, and the Birds could suddenly sense that the game was there for the taking. And so the next inning, they took it.
Former Yankee Jonathan Loaisiga began the seventh by plunking Taylor Ward on a 2-2 pitch, bringing up Alonso. Now, it’s no secret that the Polar Bear hasn’t gotten off to the kind of start with the Orioles that he’d hoped. But that doesn’t matter now because HE CRUSHED A TWO-RUN HOMER TO LEFT FIELD AND GAVE THE ORIOLES THE LEAD. He even directed it straight at Mr. Splash, who was wearing a polar bear head. That happened!
It was bedlam at Camden Yards as the small but vociferous crowd celebrated the biggest hit in the early Orioles career of the Birds’ prize free agent slugger. Alonso pumped his fist and practically danced around the bases as his teammates went crazy in the dugout. What a scene. The Orioles, two innings after trailing 7-1, had taken an 8-7 lead. Remarkable.
For good measure, Jackson added an insurance run in the eighth with his second dinger of the game, a solo shot off Andrew Hoffmann. I should mention that Jeremiah, earlier in the game, had smoked a foul ball into the dugout that hit Craig Albernaz in the face, leaving a rather rough-looking bruise on the manager’s right cheek. I’d imagine Alby can find it in his heart to forgive the guy who drove in five runs tonight.
The Orioles’ late-inning relievers took it from there. Rico Garcia continued his dominant start to the season, working a perfect eighth, and has now pitched eight games this season without allowing a hit. He’s one shy of Yennier Cano’s record of nine hitless appearances to start a season, set in 2023. And closer Ryan Helsley didn’t mess around in the ninth, mowing down the D’Backs with two strikeouts and a weak grounder, to seal the memorable Orioles win.
Briefly let’s cover all the stuff that happened before the game turned awesome. Dean Kremer, after two weeks in Triple-A purgatory, made his long-awaited season debut for the Orioles…and his very first pitch was clobbered onto the flag court by Arizona’s Ketel Marte. His first pitch of the season! You can’t make this stuff up, folks. “And that’s why he was in the minors,” said every Orioles fan simultaneously, laughing at their own joke.
Kremer got through the rest of the lineup unscathed before Marte struck again with another moon shot to right in the third, almost to the same place as his first. Maybe just don’t give this guy anything to hit, Dean? Then the Orioles’ defense abandoned Kremer in the fourth when Gunnar Henderson (who’d hit an RBI triple earlier) made a throwing error on a routine grounder, extending the inning for Nolan Arenado to hit a two-run homer. Kremer ultimately allowed four runs (two earned) in five innings, though his nine strikeouts were his most since May of 2024.
Arizona extended the lead to 7-1 in the sixth when Arenado launched a three-run homer off Albert Suárez. The corpse of Arenado had entered the game with no homers and just one extra-base hit in his first 14 games as a Diamondback, but had no problem feasting on O’s pitchers tonight. That’s something I’d be complaining more about if the game had turned out the way I thought it was going to.
But it didn’t. The Orioles pulled a most unlikely victory from the jaws of defeat, and it was glorious.
Who is your Most Valuable Oriole for tonight, Camden Chatters? Does Jeremiah Jackson get the nod for his grand slam that brought the O’s back into the game and insurance-run homer that iced the victory? Or is it Pete Alonso for delivering the big hit Orioles fans have been desperately waiting for? Let us know in the comments.
