Orioles' Pete Alonso hits 2 HRs, lineup ends slump in 10-5 win vs. Rangers

Matt Weyrich, The Baltimore Sun on Aug 9, 2026

Published in Baseball

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ARLINGTON, Texas — The Baltimore Orioles have been looking for someone, anyone, to step up and carry their offense amid the lineup’s lowest-scoring week in years.

Entering play Sunday, the club scored 11 runs in its first seven games of August. That was the fewest runs the Orioles had scored in any seven-game stretch since 2018, a product of both running into a gauntlet of starting pitchers and their own offensive struggles at the plate that have persisted on and off for most of the season.

Finally, Pete Alonso broke through. The star first baseman has been the Orioles’ most productive hitter all year, and he put together one of his best performances yet Sunday, crushing two home runs and driving in four RBIs to lead a 10-5 win that helped them avoid the sweep at the hands of the Texas Rangers.

He wasn’t alone, as eight of the nine Orioles hitters in the starting lineup recorded at least one hit, including homers by Colton Cowser and Tyler O’Neill. The lone exception was leadoff man Gunnar Henderson, who drew a walk, stole a base and scored twice before being replaced by Jeremiah Jackson to get the final three innings off.

Baltimore’s 15 hits were the most the team had amassed in a game since June 21 against the Los Angeles Dodgers and tied for the third most in any contest this season. The win helped the Orioles (57-61) pull back to within two games of Texas for the third wild-card spot in the American League and avoid falling to six games below .500 for the first time in nearly a month.

After being held to two total runs over the first two games of the series, Baltimore matched that total in the first inning thanks to some aggressive base running.

Alonso went first to third on a line drive by Jackson Holliday that he turned into a hustle double when right fielder Brandon Nimmo was slow to get the ball in. Dylan Beavers then beat out Rangers starter Kumar Rocker to the bag on a ground ball to first base for an RBI single, and Leody Taveras scored another with a two-out double for an early lead.

The Orioles continued to knock Rocker around in the third with home runs by Cowser and Alonso. Cowser’s solo shot went a Statcast-projected 441 feet, good for the third longest of the Texas native’s career. Henderson later drew a walk to set up Alonso, who knocked a hanging slider off the left field foul pole for his first of the day.

However, Texas didn’t go away quietly at first. Cade Povich put up a pair of zeroes to start the game, and he was one pitch away from getting through the third, but he missed the zone on a 3-2 curveball to shortstop Ezequiel Duran that extended the inning. Nimmo then stepped to the plate and ambushed a first-pitch slider for a left-on-left, three-run blast.

That wound up being Povich’s final frame. His command was shaky for most of the afternoon; Povich threw first-pitch strikes to just four of the 15 batters he faced and walked two, driving his pitch count up to 61 by the end of the third. With his bullpen well rested, manager Craig Albernaz went for the early hook and replaced him with Yaramil Hiraldo.

The bullpen got a larger cushion thanks to Alonso’s second homer of the day, another two-run shot in the fourth. Veteran left-hander Jordan Montgomery replaced Rocker earlier in the inning for his first outing since 2024. But Alonso greeted the Tommy John surgery recipient by launching a 3-2 pitch into the visitor’s bullpen in left field.

It marked the first multi-homer performance of 2026 for Alonso, whose 25 blasts lead the team in the first season of the five-year, $155 million contract he signed with the club in free agency last winter. The first baseman has 27 multi-homer games in his career, tied with Juan Soto and Yordan Alvarez for the third most in MLB since 2019.

O’Neill extended the Orioles’ lead with a two-run homer of his own in the sixth, also against Montgomery. He eclipsed his home run total from 2025 with his 10th long ball of the year, including eight against left-handed pitchers. Only Coby Mayo (11) has hit more off southpaws among Orioles hitters this season.

After Hiraldo took over for Povich and tossed two scoreless frames, Alex Hoppe pitched a clean sixth, Andrew Kittredge retired the side in order in the seventh and Albert Suárez pitched the final two innings to seal the Orioles’ win. An RBI triple by left fielder Nicky Lopez and run-scoring groundout by Duran in the ninth was too little, too late for the Rangers.

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