Orioles' Colton Cowser blasts walk-off homer in 5-3 win over Tigers

Jacob Calvin Meyer, The Baltimore Sun on May 24, 2026

Published in Baseball

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BALTIMORE — After Colton Cowser’s bat made contact with the ball, he watched it fly for a second just to make sure what he felt with his hands was true.

Then he looked toward the Baltimore Orioles’ dugout, flung his bat in excitement and screamed out a year’s worth of frustration. Cowser, who lost his job as the club’s starting center fielder amid a lengthy slump, had just delivered Baltimore’s biggest hit of the season, and it was one both he and the club needed.

With the Orioles down to their last strike Sunday against Tigers closer Kenley Jansen, Cowser blasted a three-run walk-off homer to give Baltimore a 5-3 win in Game 1 of its doubleheader against Detroit.

Gunnar Henderson was the first one out of the Orioles’ dugout once he knew the ball would fly over the fence in right-center field. The rest of the dugout joined, along with the Gatorade cooler, as they celebrated their first walk-off win of the season.

Cowser’s big fly followed what was largely a frustrating afternoon for Baltimore’s position players. Pete Alonso’s defensive blunder in the fourth inning caused two unearned runs to score off starting pitcher Brandon Young, who was superb as he lowered his ERA to 3.47. And the offense was mostly shut down by Tigers ace Framber Valdez, who allowed only a solo homer to Gunnar Henderson in the sixth. Keegan Akin gave up that run in the eighth, but Taylor Ward got it back in the bottom half of the frame with an RBI single.

Before Cowser’s clutch homer, Jackson Holliday and Leody Taveras both reached base on walks against Jansen, a future Hall of Fame candidate. Cowser, who entered Sunday hitting .193 with a .530 OPS, then gave the Orioles their second straight win and sent Baltimore’s fans home happy with his second homer of the season.

Baltimore is 23-29 and could improve to five games below .500 with a win in Game 2 of the twin bill, which begins at 6:05 p.m. ET.

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