A look at Urrutia's big night, Schoop's redemption and Jimenez's struggles

Well, not all nights at the ballpark are created equal.

Sometimes you see something special, fun or emotional or maybe all of the above. We seemed to get that and more last night when Henry Urrutia hit that walk-off homer to left in the last of the ninth.

We saw history in that Urrutia became just the fifth Oriole to have his first career homer be a walk-off shot. We saw the Orioles produce their third walk-off homer in six games on this homestand. We saw and heard from the emotional Urrutia after the game.

Urrutia called it the best moment of his career. When the fan who got the ball gave it to Urrutia, that made his wonderful moment even better.

"Wow, that is the best gift for me tonight," he said. "Now my son can say one day, 'This is the first homer for my dad in the big leagues.'"

On a 1-to-10 feel-good scale, watching Urrutia's homer and then listening to his heartfelt words about his son and his teammates in the clubhouse was about a 15.

Urrutia said the support of Buck Showalter and his teammates "makes me strong." For someone who has only been part of the Orioles organization for about three years now, Urrutia had the perfect response to being one of five O's to hit a walk-off for their first MLB homer.

"A lot of good players come here to this team and play with this organization," he said, "and in their whole career don't have a moment like this. So this moment for me is special and bigger."

I can remember interviewing Urrutia at a Bowie Baysox winter caravan event last January. He apologized for how he spoke English. The only thing reporters who had covered him as an Oriole since 2012 noticed was that his English was greatly improved. It was clear he put in major time and effort to speak so well.

That showed me Urrutia has what Showalter would call "want-to." He wants to learn about our country, his teammates, the organization, the fans and more. And, he wants to be a good big leaguer.

Just about the time some seemed convinced Urrutia was not a good defender, he robbed Danny Valencia of a homer. Just about the time some were convinced he would be nothing more than a slap-hitter, he hit a game-winning homer. Heck, just about the time some reporters might have been concerned it would be difficult to interview Urrutia, he mastered the language.

None of this means he'll ever be an All-Star for the Orioles. Who knows what his future will hold? But today, he deserves props for the improvements he's made on and off the field.

If ever someone deserved a moment like last night, it was Urrutia.

Jonathan Schoop's redemption: Meanwhile, just when it looked like Schoop might never catch up with Noah Sydergaard's breaking ball, he did ... for a two-run, game-tying homer in the sixth. That was big for Johnny Baseball on a night after he went hitless and made two errors.

"He threw me some good curveballs," Schoop said. "I didn't keep my head down. I tried to let some go, but I didn't. But I said, 'Hang in there, I'm going to catch one.' Finally I caught one. They have really good pitching, but we won and got a W that we needed."

Ubaldo Jimenez's struggles: In the first half, right-hander Jimenez went 7-4 with a 2.81 ERA in 17 starts. Now in seven post-All Star Game starts, Jimenez is 2-3 with an ERA of 7.12.

"I haven't been able to do what I want to as a starter, and that is get deep in the game," he said last night. "I've been missing. I know I had four walks today, but I'm really close to the strike zone. I have to find a way to stop walking guys. But the guys, they never gave up and they found a way to score and win.

"I was struggling a little bit with my mechanics, especially with a runner on base. I was trying to get a little faster, and that is what got me in trouble, moving my front shoulder."

In the first half, Jimenez gave up a .247 batting average, walked 2.9 per every nine innings and allowed a homer on average once every 12.4 innings. In the second half, those numbers are a .279 average against, 3.4 walks per nine and a homer allowed every 4.6 innings.

Jimenez has become an issue again for the Orioles. If he can find his first-half form, it would be big as the Orioles head down the stretch.

Meanwhile, the Orioles have three walk-off wins via a homer in six games during this 5-1 homestand. They are 2-1 in the last three games when the opponent pitchers have been Sonny Gray, Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard. Have the Orioles begun to turn it up a notch?