Orioles run out of punches in 6-5 extra-inning loss to MLB-best Brewers

Matt Weyrich, The Baltimore Sun on Sep 18, 2026

Published in Baseball

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BALTIMORE — Each time Milwaukee appeared to deliver the knockout blow, the Orioles got right back up. Until they couldn’t get up anymore.

After erasing an early three-run deficit and mounting a ninth-inning comeback to force extra innings, the Orioles fell in the 10th to drop their series opener against the Brewers, 6-5. Grant Wolfram allowed the winning run on an RBI single by right fielder Sal Frelick, and the Orioles went down in order in the final frame.

Baltimore (75-79) entered the game with playoff odds in the single digits, needing some help to make a miracle run at participating in October baseball.

But the club’s loss squandered a chance to pull within two games of playoff position, with the Cleveland Guardians overtaking the Chicago White Sox for the American League Central lead and Chicago, which holds the third wild-card spot, losing to Detroit after allowing nine straight runs.

It was a tight game wire-to-wire. Jackson Chourio hit a three-run home run off Orioles starter Cade Povich in the second, and Pete Alonso responded with a three-run blast to tie it up. That would then be it for either offense until the ninth, when William Contreras broke the deadlock with an RBI double, and Christian Yelich followed with a run-scoring single to put the Orioles to bed at perhaps their most desperate hour.

Second baseman Brice Turang got on with a one-out single, and Contreras drove him in with a ringing double off Rico Garcia. The ball rolled through the left-center field gap, and center fielder Rece Hinds, who pinch hit for Colton Cowser earlier in the game, couldn’t field it cleanly, allowing Turang to reach home without a play.

Wolfram then replaced Garcia and recorded the second out, but Yelich ambushed a first-pitch fastball for a valuable insurance run. The Orioles punched back in the bottom of the ninth when Gunnar Henderson led off the frame with a single and Coby Mayo doubled to put two men in scoring position for Samuel Basallo and Christian Encarnacion-Strand, both of whom hit sacrifice flies to tie the game.

Alonso left the yard for the third straight game, carrying over his power display from his revenge tour of Citi Field earlier this week. His latest homer was a line drive off the fencing of the flag court in right field, his MLB-leading 17th opposite-field home run of the season and his 38th overall.

Both offenses put plenty of runners on base over the first eight innings, but nobody came through with the big hit to take the lead. Povich and Brewers starter Dustin May exited by the fourth inning, and the opposing managers played the matchup game, leaving 22 runners on base.

The Orioles tried to orchestrate runs with small ball, and the moves backfired. Mayo, who doubled three times and walked, tried to score from third on the contact play with one out in the fifth but was thrown out at home on a weak infield grounder. Two innings later, Basallo attempted to bunt with two on and no outs despite having just one successful bunt in his entire professional career. He struck out, and the Orioles stranded both runners.

Baltimore’s bullpen kept the club’s chances alive with scoreless outings from Anthony Nunez, Luis De León, Yennier Cano and Josh Walker, but Garcia finally faltered, and Wolfram couldn’t strand the runners he inherited.