Cowser's Second Walk-off Blast In Two Days Keys Orioles Biggest Win Of Season

Of course, the Orioles were going to waste a gem of an outing by their one quality starter – Kyle Bradish – on Monday afternoon.

For the second straight day, outfielder Colton Cowser, who was on the cusp of becoming a spare part for a bad team, did the utterly improbable.

One can debate whether this comeback, three-run walk-off homer Sunday afternoon with two outs in the ninth vs Detroit was more borderline-impossible than the two-run blast he hit Monday afternoon at Camden Yards after the Orioles had rallied from down 7-5 in the 13th for a 9-7 win. Taken in their totality, these two games – with a loss to Detroit in a doubleheader finale in between – feel like the first sustained signs of life from an Orioles team that spent most of May falling desperately short of expectations.

And for Cowser, a former top five pick who is clearly beloved by his teammates but struggling mightily when this vital 10-game homestand began, to be at the heart of it all – he also tied this game by scoring from third on a bang-bang play in extra innings – felt like Orioles Magic from years past.

“Just trying to get a base hit and contribute what I can,” Cowser told the MASN broadcast after the game. “Trying to slow down and not think too much.”

Manager Craig Albernaz said: “I’m just so proud of our guys. They kept fighting … It was a great team win. I’m proud of our guys.”

This game was drunk for a solid four hours, with Gunnar Henderson picked off again in a critical spot after Blaze Aleander was picked off earlier. The Rays committed four errors including multiple mistakes as the sides traded scoring “zombie runners” in the extra innings. Both starting pitchers, Kyle Bradish (his fourth straight sterling outing for the Oriole)s, and Baltimore native Shane McClanahan for the Rays, were excellent.

It was the kind of game the Orioles (24-30 after winning three of four to start this homestand) simply found a way to lose for most of this season. It was a desperate team finally looking collectively like it was ready to dig out of a hole of its own creation. It was the exact opposite of everything in Tampa last week.

How It Began

The Rays led, 1-0, after six on Jonathan Aranda’s solo shot and the Orioles tied it when sparkplug centerfielder Leody Tazveras walked and used his speed to manufacture a run, advancing to third on a steal (Albernaz implored his team to be more aggressive on the base paths while getting swept by the Rays last week and clearly it hit home). Alexander (three hits) drove him in and ended up scoring on an errant throw himself.

Richie Palacios (from nearby Towson University) continued to plague the Orioles with an RBI single in the 8th after Taveras bobbled a ball. Victor Meda Jr., in his first game as a Ray, hit a two run homer off Tyler Well sin the 11th after two stellar innings of relief from Rico Garcia, and it looked like the O’s were on the cusp of another heartbreaking defeat.

Then things really started getting wild.

The Rays committed their fourth error of the game to help the Orioles tie it on Pete Alonso’s bloop base hit and Jeremiah Jackson’s base hit, but they could not push anything else across with two on and one out. Tampa manufactured a run in the 12th – the zombie runner getting a workout – and the Orioles countered when Cowser beat a throw him on from first base, sprinting on contact from Henderson.

“Cower had a great lead and a great jump on the contact play,” Albernaz said, adding that “Cowser made an awesome slide, no better way to put it.”

Tampa went ahead again by two runs in the 13th, with Palacios reaching on a bunt single (the Jackson Holliday experiment at third base might be trick) and ex-Oriole Cedric Mullings driving in one run and Nick Fortes’s sac fly the other.

It all served to set the stage for madness.

Taveras, probably the MVP among the Orioles position players in the first 50 games, doubled in a run, Alexander singled, Holliday drove a ball to the warning track for a sav fly to plate Alexander and tie it and Cowser smashed a 2-1 slider from Jesse Scholtens 420 feet to send Camden Yards into bedlam.

If not for six excellent innings from Bradish, perhaps none of it would have been possible. But his breaking balls continues to bite, and the Orioles continued to counter punch through 13 innings, with Cowser landing the definitive blow again.

“By far that was our best game, most complete game,” Bradish said.

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