Orioles blast Reds, 8-5, for 3rd straight win

Jacob Calvin Meyer, The Baltimore Sun on Jul 4, 2026

Published in Baseball

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CINCINNATI — Last weekend, Mike Elias said he plans on “going for it” at the MLB trade deadline.

To do that, though, his team would have to play better in the coming weeks to put the Baltimore Orioles’ president of baseball operations in a position to be a buyer.

Instead, the Orioles responded with four straight losses after Elias’ comments. Baltimore’s back-to-back lopsided defeats to the Chicago White Sox sank the ballclub to nine below .500 — the lowest mark of the season. The Orioles have had several low moments this season, but Tuesday’s defeat to the White Sox was rock bottom as fans at Camden Yards, normally not ones to loudly express their displeasure, booed the local nine.

So, naturally, they’ve since played some of their best baseball of the season to win three straight games, continuing the puzzling nature of a team that’s been wildly inconsistent all season. Saturday, the Orioles scored early, put up a crooked number, clobbered an ace starting pitcher and had their own pitching staff buckle down en route to an 8-5 win over the Cincinnati Reds.

Samuel Basallo blasted a three-run homer in the first inning for his second homer in as many games after his two-run long ball led the Orioles to a 3-0 win Friday. Three innings later, shortly after the Reds took a one-run lead, Baltimore’s bats teamed up to put up five runs against Cincinnati ace Hunter Greene in his season debut after he missed the three months with an elbow injury.

The blazing-hot Blaze Alexander, newly three-time All-Star Adley Rutschman and cleanup hitter Pete Alonso all smacked RBI hits in the frame to put Baltimore up 8-4. That lead was enough for starting pitcher Brandon Young and his bullpen. Young gave up four runs in the first two innings, but settled in to make it through five frames without allowing another run. Craig Albernaz’s bullpen — Grant Wolfram, Yennier Cano, Andrew Kittredge and Tyler Wells — then combined to pitch four innings of one-run ball while stranding five runners.

Baltimore is 42-48 and 3 1/2 games back of the Texas Rangers (45-44) for the third and final wild-card spot in the mediocre American League.

Gunnar Henderson led off the game with a single up the middle to continue his hot streak this week since Albernaz moved the superstar shortstop up to the leadoff spot amid his slump. Four batters later, Basallo caught up to a 100.4 mph fastball from Greene and parked it 406 feet to right-center field for his 14th long ball of the year. The 21-year-old Basallo has a .792 OPS this season, and he’s on pace to hit 25 homers with 81 RBIs.

Young, who’s been the Orioles’ best starter in the first half with a 3.11 ERA, gave one of the runs back in the bottom half on an RBI single from Eugenio Suárez. The Reds (40-48) then smacked four hits off Young in the second, scoring runs on a double from Jose Trevino, a triple from TJ Friedl and a single from Elly De La Cruz.

But Greene started to tire in the fourth, and the Orioles took advantage by loading the bases with no outs. Alexander, who has been one of MLB’s best hitters with runners in scoring position this season, put Baltimore back on top with a two-run single. The third baseman is hitting .383 with a 1.061 OPS in those situations this season.

Rutschman, who was named an All-Star team during the game, then smacked his second double of the night (his 18th of the season) to drive in two more runs and knock Greene out of the game. Then Alonso, who reached base in all five of his plate appearances Saturday, brought home Rutschman with an RBI single.

Albernaz left Young in to begin the sixth, and the right-hander allowed the first two batters to reach base. The first-year skipper brought in Wolfram, and the left-hander induced a double play with his first pitch and then ended the inning with a grounder on his third offering. Wolfram walked the leadoff batter of the seventh, and Albernaz went to Cano for the rest of the inning. Cano allowed Wolfram’s run but stranded two runners to end the threat. Kittredge tossed a clean eighth and gave way to Wells, who could be the Orioles’ new closer with Ryan Helsley injured, for the ninth.

It got dicey after Wells allowed the first two batters to reach base, but the 6-foot-8 righty retired the next three for his second straight save. The second out of the frame was an excellent sliding catch from center fielder Colton Cowser to save at least one run. Cowser got a great jump, traveled 86 feet, reached a top speed of 29 feet per second and reeled in a ball that Statcast gave a catch probability of only 45%.

The Orioles have a chance to win a fourth straight game Sunday — something they’ve yet to do this season. Baltimore has won three in a row six times this year, but they’re 0-6 when trying to win a fourth.

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