BALTIMORE–What happened? In just his 15th major league game, and his eighth at home, Samuel Basallo already has a signature moment. Two weeks after signing an eight-year extension with the Orioles, Basallo sent a 1-2 pitch from former Oriole Tanner Scott into the center field bleachers for a walk-off 2-1 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers before 25,481 at Camden Yards.
The 21-year-old catcher/first baseman has only 54 major league at-bats, and only two home runs. This was his first at home, and it was a game-winner.
“I’ve just been trying to take my best at-bats every time, trying to learn as much as I can for next year,” Basallo said. “And that happened, and I’m glad that happened at the right moment.”
It was the Orioles’ fourth straight win, and though they’ll soon be officially eliminated from playoff contention, it gave their fans hope that with a full season of Basallo and outfielder Dylan Beavers, 2026 will be a better year than 2025.
“He’s gonna be a big-time hitter,” interim manager Tony Mansolino said. “He’s a young kid, he’s learning right now how big leaguers pitch him. They don’t really throw fastballs down the middle a whole lot and they’ve got nasty offspeed stuff and they know his weaknesses and they can kind of exploit those.
“He’s gonna figure all of that out, but just his general skills as a hitter are so advanced for such a young kid, so in due time we’ll see more of that. It’s a really big swing and really kind of like a jumping point in his career in some ways.”
Yennier Cano (3-6) pitched a spotless ninth to set the stage for Basallo’s two-out, two-strike home run, which touched off a celebration at home plate. Basallo hit a 99-mph fastball 433 feet.
The Orioles (65-76) have won four straight. Los Angeles (78-63) has dropped four in a row.
In the fifth, Jackson Holliday, who was walked by Anthony Banda with one out, and Gunnar Henderson, walked by Ben Casparius with two outs, attempted a double steal. Casparius threw a wild pitch, and Holliday scored from second with a headfirst slide at the plate to give the Orioles a 1-0 lead.
Freddie Freeman’s 19th home run to start the sixth tied it, 1-1.
Kremer leaves with right forearm tendinitis, Ohtani a surprise starter
About 3 ½ hours before Friday night’s game, the Dodgers announced that their scheduled starter, Tyler Glasnow, was scratched because of back tightness. He was replaced by Shohei Ohtani.
Ohtani was supposed to start on Wednesday at Pittsburgh but didn’t because of illness. He was tentatively rescheduled for Monday, until Glasnow couldn’t go.
The Orioles started Dean Kremer, who pitched three hitless innings until he left with right forearm discomfort.
“I just saw him in the hallway. He thinks it’s mild,” Mansolino said. “So we’ll get imaging tomorrow, we’ll have more answers tomorrow to what it is, but the level of concern at the moment after the evaluation with the medical team was pretty low.”
Kremer, who struck out four and walked one, threw 56 pitches. On August 17th, Kremer threw a season-high 114 pitches in seven scoreless innings in Houston.
In his two most recent starts before Friday night, he allowed a combined 14 runs, 13 earned, on 16 hits in a combined eight innings.
Ohtani, who was starting for just the 12th time after not pitching in 2024 because of Tommy John surgery, was lifted after 3 2/3 innings and 70 pitches. He hasn’t pitched more than five innings this season.
How important was Holliday’s aggressiveness? Holliday has had a rough year on the bases. He’s 15-for-25 in steals at a time when the league average is about 80 percent, but his aggressiveness paid off.
“Just kind of felt right, I guess, maybe it was an instinct kind of thing,” Holliday said. “Saw the ball bounce up. He [catcher Dalton Rushing] had had a few of those where he kind of lost it, so I just went for it.
“I’m glad I wasn’t safe and then it got overturned or something like that. That seems to happen quite often. It was nice to be able to make a play for the team and put us ahead for a little bit. Yeah, I’m just happy it worked out and was able to help the team.”
What does it mean? If Kremer is placed on the injured list, the Orioles could try 27-year-old right-hander Carson Ragsdale, whom they acquired off waivers from San Francisco last month.
Ragsdale is 2-1 with a 1.33 ERA in six games, four starts, at Triple-A Norfolk
What’s the stat of the day? Basallo was the first Oriole to hit a walk-off home run for his first homer at Camden Yards since Henry Urrutia on August 19th, 2015.
What’s the word? “I just was trying to take my best at-bat, trying to maybe put my best swing on the ball. And that just happened.”-Basallo on his home run.
What’s going on in the minor leagues? Cameron Weston allowed one run on three hits in seven innings as Norfolk beat Nashville, 3-1.
Luis De Léon pitched 5 1/3 innings, allowing a run on three hits as Double-A Chesapeake beat Harrisburg, 5-1. Thomas Sosa hit a two-run homer.
Blake Honeycutt hit a two-run home run, Nate George had three hits and Evan Yates pitched five shutout innings, allowing just one hit in relief as High-A Aberdeen beat Wilmington, 9-2.
Carson Dorsey and Javier González combined on a three-hitter as Single-A Delmarva beat Lynchburg, 6-0. Wehiwa Aloy drove in two runs.
Right-hander Nestor German was promoted from Chesapeake to Norfolk.
What’s next? The Orioles will celebrate the 30th anniversary of Cal Ripken Jr. breaking Lou Gehrig’s consecutive game streak before Saturday night’s game. Trevor Rogers (8-2, 1.39) will face Yoshinobu Yaramoto (11-8, 2.82) at 7:05 p.m.
Call for questions: Most weekdays, I’ll be answering at least one Orioles question. Please send yours to: Rich@BaltimoreBaseball.com