Orioles sweep A's, get over hump in 8-5 win behind Gunnar Henderson's 2 HRs

Matt Weyrich, The Baltimore Sun on Aug 30, 2026

Published in Baseball

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WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Amid the most trying season of his young career, Gunnar Henderson is still capable of taking over a baseball game in a way very few players can.

The Orioles’ star shortstop looked the part on both sides of the ball Sunday, launching two 413-foot home runs, legging out a triple and making a slew of highlight-reel plays in the field to help his club erase a four-run deficit and beat the Athletics, 8-5, for a series sweep.

With the win, Baltimore (68-69) improved to one game under .500 for the first time since April 30. The Orioles were 0-7 dating back to May in their attempts to win while carrying a record of two games below, but a three-game series against the last-place A’s helped them clear the proverbial hurdle. They will have a chance to produce a winning record with a series against another last-place team in the Colorado Rockies on deck.

On the day before the anniversary of his MLB debut, Henderson made his presence felt early with a first-inning homer off A’s starter Jeffrey Springs. That lead was quickly surrendered when Chris Bassitt allowed a pair of runs in the bottom half of the frame.

The A’s then pulled ahead 5-1 with another run in the second and a two-run homer by catcher Brian Serven the inning after that. Bassitt was laboring with 64 pitches through three innings, but he got a boost when Coby Mayo took the left-handed Springs deep for a three-run blast in the fourth. It was Mayo’s 19th homer of the season and his 15th off a lefty, the latter of which leads all of baseball.

Henderson then put the Orioles back in front with a three-run homer of his own, raising his total to 22 — second on the team behind Pete Alonso (32). He joined Jeremiah Jackson as the only Orioles to hit multiple 400-foot home runs in a single game this season; Jackson’s two blasts came April 13 in the game he hit manager Craig Albernaz with a line drive into the dugout and helped Baltimore erase a 7-1 deficit against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

While Henderson’s second homer chased Springs from the game, Bassitt settled in and made it through 5 2/3 innings to earn the win. The Orioles improved to 3-1 with him on the mound since the veteran right-hander returned from back surgery in mid-August. Bassitt has pitched into the sixth inning in all four outings.

The Orioles did have a brush with disaster in the eighth inning when Alonso was hit in the helmet by a 94.8 mph fastball from A’s right-hander Kade Morris. Alonso appeared to dodge serious injury by turning his head just in time so the four-seamer caught him in the bill of the helmet, but Albernaz pinch-ran Jackson Holliday for him.

Henderson made sure Holliday’s presence on the bases wasn’t for nothing by driving him in the very next at-bat with a triple to left-center field on a ball that got past Carlos Cortes. He finished the game 4 for 4, a double shy of the cycle with five RBIs.

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