Pete Alonso's 40th home run lifts Orioles past Blue Jays

Michael Howes, The Baltimore Sun on Sep 21, 2026

Published in Baseball

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BALTIMORE — Where would the Baltimore Orioles be without Pete Alonso?

In a season short on bright spots, Alonso has been one of the few constants. Baltimore committed five years and $155 million to him last offseason, and Monday night he gave the club another reminder of why.

After the Orioles were shut out in their final two games against Milwaukee over the weekend, Alonso supplied nearly all of the offense in a 4-3 comeback win over the Toronto Blue Jays (77-80) at Camden Yards to end a three-game losing streak. He homered twice, including a two-run shot in the eighth inning that erased a one-run deficit and gave Baltimore (76-81) its first lead of the night. The win keeps Baltimore’s elimination number in the American League wild-card race at two.

Christian Franklin, pinch-hitting for Colton Cowser, drew a walk to open the eighth. Mason Fluharty retired the next two batters before Toronto turned to right-hander Tyler Rogers to face Alonso.

Alonso greeted him immediately.

On a 1-1 sinker, Alonso drove a 400-foot shot to left field for his 40th home run of the season, becoming the ninth player in Orioles history to reach the mark. He’s the fourth to accomplish the feat in their first season with the team, joining Frank Robinson, Mark Trumbo and Nelson Cruz.

The homer completed a comeback Baltimore had spent most of the night chasing, and Rico Garcia came out of the bullpen and retired all three batters to seal the victory.

After a roughly 40-minute rain delay, Shane Baz’s night got off to a less-than-ideal start. He walked the first two batters he faced before Nathan Lukes drove in Toronto’s first run. George Springer followed with an RBI single, and Sean Keys added a sacrifice fly after a mound visit to give the Blue Jays a 3-0 lead.

Alonso answered immediately with a solo homer in the bottom of the first, but Baltimore could not build on it.

From there, both offenses quieted. Toronto put runners on the corners in the third but came away empty after an inning-ending double play. In the fourth, Gunnar Henderson tripled with one out, only for Coby Mayo to strike out swinging and Christian Encarnacion-Strand to fly out to center.

Henderson finally broke through again in the sixth. With two outs, he turned on a 1-0 cutter from Chad Dallas and sent it 372 feet for his 24th homer of the season, cutting Baltimore’s deficit to one.

Baz, making his first start since being hit on the elbow in his previous outing, worked into the seventh. He was pulled with two outs in the top half after allowing five hits and three earned runs with three walks and two strikeouts. He allowed only three baserunners after the first inning.

A day after calling Jeremiah Jackson’s first-pitch swing with the bases loaded “embarrassing,” Orioles manager Craig Albernaz broadened his criticism Monday, saying Baltimore’s preparation and in-game awareness have not been consistent enough during a disappointing season.

“The standard is going to be high,” Albernaz said. “The record we have is not what we wanted by any stretch of the imagination.”

Albernaz also put some of the responsibility on himself, saying he needed to communicate those expectations better. But perhaps his sharpest point came when discussing the club’s recurring mistakes.

“We have to get over the conversations and actually get to actual on-job application,” he said.

Albernaz has often described player development as “messy,” but Monday he made clear that phrase is not meant to excuse poor execution.

“It’s not just the fundamentals on defense,” he said. “To me, it’s the fundamentals and the focus in every area.”

By night’s end, Alonso had provided the clearest example of what that was supposed to look like. On a season defined by inconsistency, Baltimore’s most reliable bat once again gave the Orioles something they could count on.

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