BALTIMORE–What happened? The Orioles didn’t need last at-bat heroics to defeat the Pittsburgh Pirates on Thursday. All it took was a dribbler up the middle by Dylan Beavers in the bottom of the seventh.
Pittsburgh reliever Evan Sisk, a left-hander, was brought in to face the left-handed Beavers in the seventh, and for the second straight game, he delivered the key hit.
Beavers’ single gave the Orioles a 3-2 win over the Pirates before 13,957 at Camden Yards. The Orioles (69-77) recorded a three-game sweep, their seventh sweep of the season, and have won eight of nine.
They’re eight games under .500 for the first time since August 19th and were 5-1 on the homestand against the Dodgers and Pirates (64-83).
The first four victories on the homestand were walk-off wins. Beavers won Wednesday night’s game with a 10th-inning single. Samuel Basallo won two games, and Emmanuel Rivera the other.
The Orioles play three games each in Toronto and Chicago before returning home on September 18th for their final homestand of the season.
Jackson Holliday led off the seventh with a single against Pittsburgh’s Colin Holderman (0-2). He stole second, and with two outs, Beavers’ soft grounder made it into the outfield as Holliday scored.
Grant Wolfram (3-0) pitched a scoreless seventh, Kade Strowd allowed a single to Nick Gonzales and walked Andrew McCutchen with two outs in the eighth before striking out Spencer Horwitz.
Strowd has a 1.27 ERA in 19 games, and his excellence has drawn attention inside and outside the organization.
“It’s easy to do well when you see the guy before you do well and the guy do well after you, and it follows on to the next day most of the time,” Strowd said. “But, yeah, it’s been a fun last month.”
Keegan Akin recorded his fifth save. Oneill Cruz, who had been successful in 37 of 41 stolen base attempts pinch-ran for Alexander Canario, who singled, and Cruz was thrown out stealing to end the game.
Gonzales’ first-inning single gave Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead. Jeremiah Jackson scored on Rivera’s infield out in the bottom of the first against Johan Oviedo. Coby Mayo’s RBI single in the bottom of the second put the Orioles ahead 2-1, and the Pirates tied in the third on Canario’s home run.
Cade Povich started and allowed two runs on five hits in 5 2/3 innings.
“Obviously, we love when we’re able to go out and put up seven, eight, nine runs and blow teams out, but I think you really see the heart and the effort these guys put in in these close games, obviously, with the walk-offs and even today,” Povich said. “It just shows kind of the fight of this team, and I think it shows a lot for the future.”
Interim manager Tony Mansolino said that Dean Kremer would throw an “extensive bullpen” session on Friday, and if all went well, he’d be slotted for a start. Kremer would have been in line to start on Friday but left his start on September 5th with right forearm discomfort.
The Orioles are likely to have the bullpen pitch in Sunday’s game in Toronto.
Elias promoted: According to a report in The Athletic, which was confirmed by an industry source, the Orioles promoted Mike Elias to president of baseball operations during the offseason. The report says the Orioles are seeking a general manager to work under Elias. The Orioles recently hired Nationals vice president of scouting Danny Haas as an assistant to the general manager.
What does it mean? The Orioles’ bullpen, featuring lots of new relievers, has been making an outstanding impression in their audition for jobs in 2026.
What’s the stat of the day? The Orioles’ bullpen has an ERA of 1.14 in September.
What’s the word? “Once we traded away the bullpen at the deadline, you know, just a little bit of, not panic, but just a lot of unknown for me on August 1st, once we kind of got to that point. To see a month, a month and a half into it, and these guys kind of formulating a competitive bullpen in the big leagues in the AL East, I think we are incredibly proud of these guys. And, just proud of them.”-Mansolino on the Orioles’ new look bullpen.
What’s next? The Orioles open a three-game series at Toronto on Friday night. Trevor Rogers (8-2, 1.51) will face Chris Bassitt (11-8, 3.97) at 7:07.
Call for questions: Most weekdays, I’ll be answering at least one Orioles question. Please send yours to: Rich@BaltimoreBaseball.com