Holliday hits grand slam and Orioles pull away for 9-1 win (updated)

The Orioles needed an effective start out of their rotation. They needed a big swing that might deaden their slump. Perhaps they could regain some authority and quiet a few critics.

Dean Kremer spun 5 1/3 innings of one-run ball tonight and Jackson Holliday marked his return to the lineup with a grand slam. They filled the order.

Heston Kjerstad made a clutch grab to strand two runners, Ramón Laureano and Ryan O'Hearn homered, and the Orioles defeated the Guardians 9-1 before an announced crowd of 13,964 at Camden Yards. The record improved to 7-10 with their fourth win in 12 games and they get another chance to claim their first series.

A four-run eighth, which included O'Hearn's long ball and Kjerstad's two-run single, put the game out of reach. Ramón Urías had a 398-foot sacrifice fly.

Holliday was hitless in his last 17 at-bats and didn’t play last night. He batted with one out in the second inning after Cedric Mullins walked, Ryan Mountcastle singled and Urías walked to load the bases.

Guardians starter Gavin Williams threw a sweeper and Holliday drove it 396 feet to the bullpen, where reliever Cionel Pérez tried to catch the ball with his cap and missed. Holliday doubled his RBI total for the season and had his second career slam, the other landing on Eutaw Street on July 31 in his first game back with the club.

"Been scuffling a little bit as of late," said manager Brandon Hyde. "To be able to stay on a baseball to left-center the way he did. ... We saw the left-center field kind of power he had there in Toronto. It’s a beautiful thing when he’s in the middle of the field, line drives. That was a huge hit for us at the time."

"It’s always fun to hit a home run and score a bunch of runs as a team," Holliday said. "I think it was really good for us. Dean threw the ball awesome and then we had some kind of getting out of jams a little bit, which was good. I think we played really well as a team tonight."

The team’s last slam came from Anthony Santander on Aug. 23, 2024.

"Can never complain about pitching with the lead," Kremer said.

Holliday joined Brian Roberts (2001-03) and Fritz Connally (1983) as the only Orioles with two grand slams among their first seven career home runs. At 21 years and 133 days old, he surpassed Cal Ripken Jr. (22 years and 323 days) as the youngest player in franchise history at the time of his second slam, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Ripken sat behind home plate tonight in his usual seat. Owner David Rubenstein joined him early and late in the game.

“I think that was a huge point in the game was when he hit that grand slam," Kjerstad said. "That’s always good when somebody hits one for the team just to put runs on the board and all that, but just to start the game off that way just with how the offense has been going a little bit, we kind of needed that.”

The Orioles held their Bark at the Park promotion with fans allowed to bring their dogs. Holliday's wife Chloé had their Bernedoodle, Coconut, on a leash as sort of a good luck charm.

"I’ve played pretty well on Bark at the Park in the minor leagues," Holliday said, smiling.

"He came to Norfolk and Charlotte. Him and Chloé traveled a lot with me last year and he came to a lot of Bark at the Parks. Big night for him, yeah."

So the slam was for Coconut?

"Yeah, that’s right," Holliday said with the same grin on his face. "Just for Coconut. Not the team, just Coconut."

Gunnar Henderson led off the bottom of the first inning by grounding out at 113.3 mph and Adley Rutschman lined to short at 105.2. Kjerstad followed Mountcastle’s single in the second with a liner to right at 104.7 mph that Angel Martinez ran down.

The Orioles had to be rewarded at some point. Their luck had to change.

Kremer lowered his ERA from 8.16 to 6.41 in his fourth start. He retired the first six batters before Gabriel Arias led off the third with a 424-foot home run to center field on a cutter over the plate.

A stopper was needed with the rotation posting a 5.54 ERA before tonight, which ranked last in the majors. Kremer stepped up with one run and four hits allowed, including Carlos Santana’s line drive off Holliday’s glove in the fourth that was ruled a single but could get changed if appealed.  

"I thought Kremer really competed," Hyde said. "A lot of foul ball wars, he stayed in the at-bats really well, kept throwing strikes, he only walked one. That’s a scrappy team that puts the ball in play and I thought he mixed well even with some frustrating at-bats, possibly, because they were fouling off some tough pitches.

"Best start of the year for him."

A walk and Henderson’s two-out fielding error that was changed to a hit had Kremer in a jam in the fifth, but Steven Kwan grounded into a force.

The fourth hit off Kremer was José Ramírez’s 85.1 mph ground ball poked down the third base line leading off the sixth inning. Santana popped up and Hyde removed Kremer at 96 pitches.

“I’m going to approach it like every other outing," Kremer said. "If I’m thinking about anything exterior other than getting guys out, I think I’m in the wrong head space. So, just try to approach every game like it’s another game, regardless of whether we’re crushing it or scuffling.”

The defense had a few rough patches again, including Kyle Manzardo’s fly ball down the left field line against Bryan Baker in the sixth that fell for a single as three Orioles pursued it. But then, there was brilliance.

Kjerstad, who moved from left to right field after Tyler O’Neill was scratched from the lineup with neck discomfort, made a sliding catch in the gap to rob Angel Martinez and save at least one run from scoring. Baker raised both arms in celebration.

“Huge play, probably the play of the game," Hyde said. "We had a couple of misplays. We haven’t done a great job of making plays, honestly to get pitchers out of innings and Heston made a play. It was a massive play. If that ball falls, a lot of things could happen, bullpen sets up differently, etc and to see him go get that ball in the right-center field gap, that was a huge play at the time, huge play in the game.”

Statcast gave the play a catch probability of 60 percent. The Orioles inched closer to a 100 percent win probability.

“I’m just running as hard as I can to see if I can make the play and as I got closer I knew I had a good shot at catching it," Kjerstad said. "Being able to make a nice play behind our pitcher in a game that’s still close at that time is really good for the team and it was good momentum for us.

“Anytime you make a Web Gem play like that, that’s what you play the game for. That’s a lot of fun to be able to make a play like that for the team, help us win the game and everything like that.”

Baker tossed 1 1/3 scoreless innings and has allowed only one run with 10 strikeouts in 8 2/3. The Guardians loaded the bases with one out in the eighth and Yennier Cano fielded Angel Martinez’s bouncer and started a 1-2-3 double play. Martinez was called out for interference.

Félix Bautista warmed but sat down as the Orioles broadened their lead. Keegan Akin finished.

Laureano went from reserve to left fielder due to O’Neill’s condition, and he was 1-for-15 with no RBIs and seven strikeouts as an Oriole before his 393-foot shot off Williams in the seventh. O'Hearn demolished Triston McKenzie's fastball in the eighth, sending it 396 feet at 107.9 mph to the back of the flag court.

* Hyde said O'Neill is day-to-day.

"It was bothering him a little bit yesterday and woke up, a sore neck," Hyde said.

* High-A Aberdeen’s Braxton Bragg tossed seven scoreless innings tonight with three hits, no walks and seven strikeouts.