The drill had been repeated so frequently it largely lost its mojo. “Now batting, Jackson Holliday …” followed by fans pushed forward in their seats, cellphone cameras at the ready, awaiting the inevitable: Jackson Holliday’s first major league hit.
It took him four games in five days, split by a day of rest, and an 0-for-13 start with nine strikeouts before he ended the drought in a 6-4 win over the Milwaukee Brewers. It came in the seventh inning on a single to right field that moved Jordan Westburg to third base. Holliday passed the baton to Gunnar Henderson, who also singled to right, scoring Westburg to tie the game as Holliday went from first to third and beat the throw by inches. Adley Rustchman was next. He grounded into a double play, but Holliday scored the go-ahead run.
How does he feel? “Pretty relieved,” he said.
The energy for each ensuing Holliday at-bat became sequentially drowsier. By Sunday, those same fans seemed less convinced the next one was going to be the one. His first at home came Friday in front of a sellout, standing-room-only crowd eager to see their next star.
“[It’s] normal stuff for a 20-year-old,” Orioles co-hitting coach Ryan Fuller said before the game. “We’re not worried at all. I mean, he’s had all the cameras in his face. A lot of stuff going on the first couple of days. We can’t wait to just have him be in a normal routine, be one of the guys and come here and not feel like he has to get a hit today.”
Fuller was right. Holliday felt more comfortable in his approach seeing Abner Uribe’s two-pitch arsenal. After seeing the first slider, Holliday said, he knew he could get ahead in the count and take advantage from there.
Holliday’s single wasn’t the hero play in Baltimore’s narrow win. But it was the seventh-inning spark the offense so desperately needed, having combined for six runs over the previous two games, both blowout defeats. And it was the poetic sequence of Westburg, the 30th pick in the 2020 draft, followed by three consecutive No. 1-ranked prospects in baseball that ultimately saved a streak that has partially defined the turnover to an Orioles post-rebuild era.
With the win, Baltimore’s American League-best run of regular-season series without being swept extends to 96, dating to May 2022.
“We still haven’t gotten swept right?” Holliday confirmed after the win. “I was kind of thinking of that. I’m like OK, we gotta get something rolling. It was really cool to be able to get something going. Really cool to be able to do that with Westy and Gunnar and Adley.”
The streak had its arms draped over the ropes, its head dipped back. For much of Sunday afternoon, it appeared Milwaukee could be responsible for the knockout punch that put the third-longest streak in MLB history to bed.
Ryan O’Hearn’s RBI single in the first and second homer of the year, sandwiching a Cedric Mullins solo shot, wasn’t going to be enough.
Thus, it was Holliday’s first major league hit that ushered in offensive momentum and reignited life throughout Camden Yards, tipping this game back toward the home team.
“I’m just happy for the kid,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “Just to see the look on his face after he got that hit, it was a huge hit for us at the time too. So, happy for him, happy for his family. It’s a special moment he’ll never forget.”
Colton Cowser piled one in the eighth inning with a solo homer of his own, continuing his offensive breakthrough this season.
“Oh, I’m stoked for him,” Cowser said of Holliday, one of his closest friends. “Someone made a joke that he just had to face someone throwing 100 [mph], I guess. No, really excited for him. I know he was really searching for that.”
Closer Craig Kimbrel allowed two hits in the top of the ninth but struck out the side for his 420th career save and third of the season.
The Brewers eviscerated the Orioles’ pitching during the first two games of the series by scoring 11 runs on both Friday and Saturday. Milwaukee wasn’t quite so explosive Sunday but caused enough fits for Orioles ace Corbin Burnes, who allowed six hits, three runs (two earned) and two walks with five strikeouts while throwing 98 pitches in five innings. That’s the quickest leash the former Cy Young Award winner has had in four starts this season and it came against his former team.
Burnes’ trouble started early. Leadoff man and designated hitter William Contreras blasted the right-hander’s second pitch of the afternoon 420 feet to center field for the game’s first run. Rhys Hoskins nearly followed his lead but settled for a 402-foot double to left field that would have been a home run in most other ballparks, but Burnes got out of the inning with the one run allowed before giving up single runs in the third and fourth innings.
Orioles reliever Jacob Webb gave up two hits in an otherwise scoreless sixth inning. He was replaced by Yennier Cano, whose second pitch — a hanging slider to Blake Perkins — landed in the center field bleachers to give the Brewers a 4-3 lead.
When Adley Rustchman threw to second to catch a stealing Sal Frelick, Blake Perkins snuck home from third base in the third inning. Then a throwing error by Burnes over to first gave way to a Willy Adames stroll home, tying the game at 3 in the fourth.
The Orioles haven’t found the key to unlock a quick start and a dominant nine innings. But they were treated to what has felt like a long-awaited drought. The kid finally got a hit. He’ll find a special spot at home to hang the ball.
“That whole experience of finally getting a hit and people cheering for it,” Holliday said. “That’s what you dream of. To be able to do it in a big spot, that’s pretty cool.”
• Kyle Bradish, who suffered a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow in January, threw a bullpen session at Camden Yards for the first time on Saturday afternoon. He will begin his minor league rehabilitation assignment in Double-A Bowie sometime this week. Bradish is considering this rehab his spring training, which he said has been a positive experience without any setbacks. “It’ll be nice to face some other jerseys,” he said.
• Baltimore and Minnesota each announced their respective starters for the upcoming three-game series. Cole Irvin, Grayson Rodriguez and Tyler Wells will start for the Orioles while Louie Varland, Chris Paddack and Pablo López will pitch for the Twins.
Twins at Orioles
Monday, 6:35 p.m.
TV: MASN
Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM
