Henderson And Alonso Share Rare Power Burst As Orioles Beat Twins

If the Orioles are going to go ahead and get back to .500 and do more than casually flirt with that final Wild Card spot from afar, then the top of their lineup must come to life.

Gunnar Henderson, the leadoff guy, came into Tuesday in Minnesota with a .091 batting average in August and .450 OPS. Pete Alonso, their No. 3 hitter, has cooled off deep in the summer and the Birds have been exceedingly tepid against starting pitching since June 1, and especially since Samuel Basallo and Blaze Alexander were lost to long-term injuries.

Henderson and Alonso have rarely shared big games together – and with Henderson quite likely to be dealt in 2027 – it’s fair to wonder how often they ever will. Combining for six hits and four RBIs – each hitting a homer, too – in a big game against the middling Twins might be as good as it gets, and they did carry Baltimore to a 5-2 win at Target Field.

“Feels like a long time coming,” Henderson told the MASN broadcast after the game. “The work I’m putting in, trying to get the confidence back has been a big thing … Finally was able to get one to go in the first, and felt great after that.”

They led the offense and starter Brandon Young, one of the truly remarkable success stories for a failed Orioles pitching-development strata, put on a bulldog performance, all guts and guile on a night he wasn’t sharp to repeatedly prevent the Twins from doing more damage. Young went six innings, allowed just two runs (only one was earned as the Orioles a garbage team when it comes to fundamentals and are running away with most unearned runs in baseball).

Young needed 104 pitches to pick up the 18 outs, facing 28 batters in the process. Nothing about this was easy – kind of like this entire season – but he didn’t bow with men on base, survived three walks with his control wavering, and picked up eight big groundball outs. Young lowered his ERA to 3.33, pretty remarkable, as the former undrafted player continues to log more innings than ever before in his pro career.

"He’s stepped up big for us, and we’ve needed it,” manager Craig Albernaz said after the game. “It’s been awesome to see what BY can do.”

Early-Game Thunder

On a night when he stuff was off, Young needed a lead. They are rare for Orioles starters but the O’s scored twice in each of the first two innings, which was huge. Getting a decent at bat from Henderson to start the game would be a nice touch.

"I can put myself through a lot more than I thought I could," Henderson said.

“We’ve all seen it from Gunnar, it’s in there," Albernaz said. "The results have been unforgiving."

He singled off Bailey Ober to open the game and Alonso launched his 26th homer to left center for the quick lead. Henderson hit his 19th homer with one out in the second, driving in catcher Yohel Pozo (he left the game after being struck on the hand during catcher’s interference, with X-Rays negative), doubling the lead. It was just the third time Henderson and Alonso homered in the same game.

Christian Encarnacion-Strand mashed 460-foot a solo homer in the third – the offense lately is homer-or-bust – but then the bats fell silent and the Orioles bullpen was called on to hold the lead. Yennier Cano got into trouble in the 8th but Tyler O’Neill’s diving catch in right field was huge and Cano ended the inning with a called third strike in a full-count with two on.

Andrew Kittredge worked a clean ninth for the save, with the Orioles (58-62), able to pull even on this 10-game road trip and take the series from the Twins with a win Wednesday afternoon.

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