Burnes goes seven innings, Henderson hits grand slam and Orioles recover from sloppy start in 6-1 win (updated)

The entire Orioles infield gathered on the mound in the second inning for a conference that seemed to be more about settling down. Hit the pause button, regroup and get back to work. Get back to the way they normally play.

The Red Sox scored after Connor Wong singled, left fielder Colton Cowser and shortstop Gunnar Henderson committed errors, and Jorge Mateo made a high throw to the plate on a fielder’s choice. Corbin Burnes also threw a wild pitch for bad measure.

A popup and caught stealing kept the deficit at one. The defense was fixed.

Fortunately for the Orioles, there was nothing wrong with the bats. No one had to say a word.

Henderson hit a grand slam in the bottom of the second, Burnes held the Red Sox to an unearned run and three hits over seven innings, and the Orioles claimed another division series with a 6-1 victory before an announced crowd of 18,857 at Camden Yards.

Ramón Urías produced his second home run of the season, a 410-foot shot into the bullpen in the seventh, and the Orioles improved to 35-19 heading into their off-day. They haven’t lost their last 18 series against the American League East.

The entire second inning bordered on the bizarre.

There was the uncharacteristic sloppiness, with Cowser bouncing a throw to the infield that Mateo usually handles, and Henderson losing control of the ball while attempting to apply the tag. Wong scored after Mateo scooped Dominic Smith’s grounder and fired high to catcher James McCann.

A conference was the solution.

"Just trying to get back to what we normally do," Henderson said. "It was kind of a weird string of events right there, but Corbin had our backs and went out there and put up a really good outing."

The bottom half of the inning had its own unique moments and gave the Orioles a lead that never left them.

Urías produced only his fourth RBI of the season and first since April 28 when he singled to score Cowser. Urías was in the lineup because of Jordan Westburg’s sore right hand.

"Nice to see him really, really contribute tonight with a big base hit and then that homer," Hyde said. "It's been a tough year for him and he's taking it so well and been a really good teammate and tried to stay positive."

"It feels great," Urías said. "Just trying to be ready every day when the team needs me, and today was a great night for me."

McCann drew his first walk of the season in his 81^st plate appearance, chucking his bat like Henderson as the crowd roared. Henderson stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and crushed a sweeper, sending it 422 feet to right field for his second career grand slam and the third by the Orioles.

Adley Rutschman hit one in Kansas City and Anthony Santander cleared the bases in Cincinnati.

McCann's 80 plate appearances without a walk were the most by an Oriole to begin a season since Vladimir Guerrero (115) and Félix Pié (99) in 2011, per the Elias Sports Bureau.

Henderson didn't see the bat toss until later.

"They were telling me about it," he said. "I was locked in. I didn't see it, so I had to go back and watch it on the iPad. But it was pretty funny. That was his first one of the year, so that was a good one."

The inning began with Kutter Crawford nailing Cowser with a cutter above the left knee. Santander singled, Crawford retired the next two batters and Urías lined a fastball into center field.

Santander was batting .203 before tonight, Urías .194 and McCann .203. They all scored on the slam.

Henderson is the fourth player in Orioles history with 50 home runs before turning 23, joining Manny Machado, Eddie Murray and Boog Powell. He's the fifth player 22-years-old or younger in major league history to reach 18 in his first 54 games to start a season, along with Alex Rodriguez, Harmon Killebrew, Eddie Mathews and Bryce Harper.

"He's been great. He's electric on both sides of the ball," Burnes said.

"It's cool," Henderson said. "I didn't even know that, but it's definitely cool to hit that. Just got to keep it going and see where it goes."

Burnes began the game by striking out leadoff hitter Jarren Duran on a 97.5 mph cutter, the velocity up early, and Wilyer Abreu on a curveball.

Abreu’s single with one out in the sixth was the first hit off Burnes since Wong’s single in the second. Burnes returned for the seventh at 88 pitches, Wong led off with a bunt single and Vaughn Grissom walked with one out. Pitcher coach Drew French came to the mound with Danny Coulombe warming, and Burnes retired the next two batters.

Ceddanne Rafaela struck out on a slider and Burnes clenched his fist and yelled. He completed seven innings for the first time since April 9 in Boston. His 108 pitches were eight more than his previous high with the Orioles.

Tonight marked the eighth time in Burnes’ career that he’s thrown 108 or more. It also brought his 50^th career win.

"He just felt good after six," said Hyde, whose club is on pace for 105 wins. "We just checked with him. He felt good to go and he just battled all night. It was just really competitive. His stuff was so good. He was still throwing 96-97 in the seventh inning. He still had life to all his pitches. After escaping that second inning, which was a little uncharacteristic of how we've been playing defense, only giving up one run there and then zeros the rest of the way, it was just a great, great performance."

Said Burnes: "We were still at the point where I was executing pitches and were in a good spot to go back out there. I don't think there's any importance in getting through a certain amount of innings or whatever it may be. If I'm out there and I'm still effective and executing pitches, then I'll keep going as long as I can."

Asked about the meaning behind 50 wins, he said, "That was 50? Took a while."

Burnes has recorded seven quality starts in a row to tie his career high and produce the longest stretch by an Orioles pitcher since Dylan Bundy had eight in 2017. His ERA is 2.35.

"Every time he's pitched he's given us a really good chance to win," Hyde said. "It was huge for us that Gunnar hit that ball out, to give a little breathing room for him and let him really relax. He's been pitching a lot of tight games. I feel like we don't score a ton for him so far, but hopefully we will going forward.

"The McCann walk led to the Gunnar grand slam. I think we're celebrating the walk inside the clubhouse."

The Orioles wouldn’t need another player's mound conference until everyone converged on a popup that Ryan Mountcastle caught to end the fifth. Order was restored.

"We're in a great spot," Burnes said. "Still got a long way to go. I think we would all agree we're playing pretty good baseball right now, but the most important part is to be healthy and play good baseball when you start October. Right now it's great winning all these games but you look at the long run of things, you want to make sure you're ready for September and October, and I think we've done a lot of the good things to prepare us for that."

* The Orioles are starting Albert Suárez, Kyle Bradish and Cole Irvin this weekend against the Rays.

* Brandon Young made his Triple-A debut and allowed two runs and three hits for Norfolk. He walked three batters and struck out six.

Jackson Holliday singled and scored in the first inning on Daniel Johnson’s sacrifice fly, and he singled again in the fifth.

Jonathan Heasley tossed three scoreless innings.

Single-A Delmarva catcher Aneudis Mordán hit a grand slam, his eighth home run.