Orioles blast five home runs, Burnes blanks Tigers again in 7-1 win (updated)

Anthony Santander is predictable but never boring. He also knows how to shake an offense out of its slumber. Make loud noises and see who follows.

A line formed behind him.

In his next at-bat after setting off a wild celebration Thursday afternoon with a walk-off homer to beat the Giants, Santander muscled a cutter from Detroit’s Tyler Holton into Section 86 in left-center field in the first inning.

Santander approached second base and motioned to the bullpen, bumped fists with third base coach Tony Mansolino, crossed home plate, looked up to the sky and slapped his hands together. He pointed at his parents in the stands and jogged to the dugout.

The scene is replayed over and over in 2024. He’s on a tear and on a loop.

Back-to-back two-run shots ended a game and got the Orioles started on a longball binge that resulted in a season-high five in a 7-1 victory over the Tigers before an announced crowd of 33,629 at Camden Yards in the final home series before the playoffs.

Colton Cowser and James McCann homered twice and the Orioles improved to 86-68. They hadn’t won consecutive games since Sept. 2-3 against the White Sox. Their lead over the Royals for the home wild card is four games.

"Hitting is contagious, right?" McCann said. "So all it takes is that one guy to come with a big hit, and next thing you know it follows on with everyone else in the lineup. So hopefully we can continue to ride that momentum and hopefully the contagious hitting continues."

Corbin Burnes was staked to 3-0 and 5-0 leads after Cowser’s homer to open the second and McCann’s two-run shot in the fourth. Cowser reached the flag court in right field leading off the sixth and McCann found the left field seats with two outs, his fly ball staying inside the foul pole as he stood and watched.

"We haven’t had homers in bunches in a while," said manager Brandon Hyde. "We did in the first half. It was a fun night for us offensively."

Burnes didn’t need much assistance. He’s also predictable except for an August swoon.

The staff ace has returned to form. He retired nine in a row before Kerry Carpenter’s two-out, opposite-field double in the sixth – only the second hit for the Tigers. They finished with three against him in seven scoreless innings.

Or, as Hyde put it, "Just seven beautiful innings."

Santander’s 420-foot blast accounted for his 43^rd home run, tied with Rafael Palmeiro for seventh-most in Orioles history. Chris Davis hit 53 in 2013, followed by Brady Anderson’s 50 in 1996, Frank Robinson’s 49 in 1966, Davis’ 47 in 2015, Mark Trumbo’s 47 in 2016 and Jim Gentile’s 46 in 1961. Palmeiro hit 43 in 1998.

The Tigers misplayed Gunnar Henderson’s fly ball in right-center field for a gift double, Holton retired the next two batters on grounders and Santander upped his RBI total to 99. He set a career high yesterday.

The Santander power show isn’t local programming. He’s the fifth switch-hitter in major league history to hit at least 43 homers in a season, along with Mickey Mantle (twice), Chipper Jones, Lance Berkman and Mark Teixeira.

Cowser belted his 21^st after Keider Montero replaced Holton. Coby Mayo singled in the fourth after being chosen earlier in the day as the organization’s Minor League Player of the Year, and McCann deposited a slider into the bullpen. Mayo had his fourth hit in 39 at-bats with the Orioles.

Facing Montero in the sixth, Cowser upped the lead to 6-0 by sending a knuckle curve 417 feet at 107.8 mph for his second career multi-homer game. McCann registered his third.

“Hopefully, it’s a jump start," McCann said. "A big swing by Tony yesterday. What we were able to do offensively in scoring in multiple innings. Something we’ve talked about recently is one pitch, one inning, one game at a time, and that’s what we did today. We kept tacking on, and Burnes threw a heck of a game so it was really good to see. Hopefully it’s a momentum thing that we keep on riding out through the end of the season.”

The Orioles have outhomered their opponents in 73 games this season, trailing only the 1982 team (74) for most in franchise history, per STATS. They tied the 1998 and 2016 clubs tonight.

They hadn’t hit three at Camden Yards since June 27 in an 11-2 win over the Rangers, and their last three-homer game was Aug. 7 in Toronto. Thanks to Cowser and McCann in the sixth, they produced their first five-homer game in Baltimore since Sept. 2, 2022.

Ryan Mountcastle and Cedric Mullins were the last Orioles with multiple homers in the same game on June 19, 2021 against the Blue Jays.

McCann snapped a hose off the hydration station after his second one. The Orioles already had repaired their offense.

"We’ve been wearing out a little bit," McCann said. "It was a technical difficulty, I guess.”

Burnes shut out the Tigers on two hits in seven innings in his last start at Comerica Park and stifled baseball's hottest team again tonight on three hits with three walks and eight strikeouts. Facing the same team twice in a short span didn’t wreck him. He came away without a scratch.

"Tonight, the plan was to go out and kind of trust what we did last time and see if they make some adjustments and react to it," he said. "Didn’t make a ton of adjustments, so we were able to kind of stick to the game plan we had last time and move in and out, mix speeds. McCann did a great job again back there mixing it up. Good win today."

The memory of a 7.36 ERA in five August starts is growing dimmer. Burnes has allowed only three earned runs this month in 25 innings. Tonight marked his 22^nd quality start of the season^.

Burnes has made five career appearances against the Tigers and allowed only two runs in 29 innings.

Danny Coulombe returned from the injured list, allowed two hits and struck out two in his first appearance since June 8. He received a standing ovation before facing his first batter.

“It’s the first time in my career I’ve had anything like that," he said. "That was pretty cool. So thank you, Baltimore.”

Coulombe made three rehab appearances at Triple-A before the Orioles brought him back. He stranded two runners in the eighth.

“It felt good," he said. "It definitely felt it’s a little different than Triple-A, but I’m really excited to be back and just be back with the guys.”

A little rusty?

“Oh, absolutely," he said. "We still building up in the big leagues. The hope is just to get back and be my full strength by the postseason.”

Jacob Webb allowed a run with two outs in the ninth to deny the Orioles a 10th shutout. But their magic number for clinching a playoff berth is down to three games and more injured players are returning.

"Seeing Danny come in, you could see guys getting excited in the dugout for him after the inning," McCann said. "It's definitely one of those things where, we trust everyone, but at the same time those guys who we were counting on in the early parts of the season, we haven't seen them in a while. To show back up, it’s exciting, it's a lot of fun to see and get us back on the right track."

“Mentally, getting your team back, it’s definitely a boost for everybody," Coulombe said. "You can see it, you can feel the energy in the clubhouse. It’s pretty excited. And I think as the postseason gets near, the games, not that these don’t matter, they obviously matter, but the postseason’s a special thing. I think last year, especially, going out in the first round, guys are pretty fired up about that. They did not like that feeling, so we’re just going to go out and compete pitch by pitch and hopefully it works out.”

"We’ve played good baseball the last few days," Burnes said. "If we come out and play like that, we’re a tough team to beat. Now it’s just about keeping it going and playing our baseball and not worry about what’s going on. We’ve got eight games left, so we’ve got to kick it into gear if we want to try to get the division. At this point, we know we’re going to be in the postseason, and that’s what’s more important."

Santander's walk-off could prove to be the most important swing of the season.

"Yesterday felt good," Hyde said. "I think it's, like we've talked about a lot, it's been tough. Guys have been grinding. It's been a tough time kind of keeping the line moving offensively and getting that win last night in a big spot, big hit and then it's all about your next-day starter. And then when your starter goes and does that, gives you a lot of confidence that we score some runs there we got a chance.

"And Santander, really, we got Gunnar on second, nobody out, we catch a break, and then we don't do a good job moving him. And then two outs, two strikes and he goes deep, that was really, honestly, a turning point in the game."

* Hyde said Cedric Mullins was unavailable because of some neck discomfort after yesterday's collision with Austin Slater.

* Ramón Urías had two hits tonight at Triple-A Norfolk, including a home run, and finished with three RBIs. Jordan Westburg was 2-for-5 with a double.

Ryan Mountcastle started at first base in his first rehab game and was 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.

Brandon Young allowed three runs and six hits in five innings.