Orioles hit back-to-back homers twice in Young's debut, Laureano provides power off bench in 9-5 win (updated)

The Orioles thought they knew what was coming today from Reds starter Hunter Greene - the 99-100 mph fastball, the plus-sliders, the scoreless streak, the stacked odds. Brandon Young was the riddle, an undrafted rookie making his major league debut.

Young’s hair is long, but the Orioles hoped that his outing would provide some length.

You can’t count on much these days, and that includes Greene’s dominance. He lasted only three innings and surrendered three homers among his five runs. Greene went four-plus and left with a lead. And Ramón Laureano provided an unexpected twist by homering twice off the bench.

Jordan Westburg snapped an 0-for-30 stretch with a homer, and six relievers combined for two-run ball over five innings in the Orioles’ wild 9-5 victory over the Reds before an announced orange-clad crowd of 28,534 at Camden Yards.

Félix Bautista warmed and sat down after the Orioles (9-11) scored twice in the eighth. He got up again after Austin Hays led off the ninth by clearing the left field wall against Matt Bowman and Gavin Lux doubled. A walk brought Bautista into the game with two on and no outs, they were stranded to give him the save, and the Orioles will try to claim another series Sunday.

Heston Kjerstad exited the game with a bruised right elbow caused by a hit-by-pitch, with X-rays negative, and Laureano smacked a tie-breaking two-run homer in the third. Young walked the leadoff batter in the fifth and Bryan Baker replaced him at 81 pitches and with the Orioles ahead 5-3. Young allowed seven hits – all within his first 10 batters - walked three and struck out three.

"Pretty unreal," Young said. "I had the expectations coming in, but blew them out of the water. Still hard to breathe. Can’t feel my legs. But that was awesome. Everything I’ve dreamed for.

"Wasn’t too nervous until I heard the 'Os' during the anthem, and I was like, ‘Wow, that’s a lot of people.’ Most people I’ve ever played in front of. Step on the mound, after the first inning kind of settled down a little bit and could feel my legs again."

Greene hadn’t allowed a run in 18 2/3 consecutive innings to lower his ERA to 0.98. He hadn’t surrendered multiple home runs in 17 straight appearances. The Orioles didn’t care. Cedric Mullins hit his 18^th career leadoff homer, second-most in club history behind Brady Anderson’s 44. Two pitches later, Gunnar Henderson went deep to center field and the Greene trailed 2-1.

Mullins launched a 98.8 mph fastball 393 feet, and Henderson drove a splitter 395 feet at 105.8 mph off the bat. The Orioles hadn’t produced back-to-back homers from the first two batters in the first inning since Mullins and Trey Mancini on June 7, 2022 against the Cubs.

"The at-bats off Greene the first few innings, with the stuff that he has, that’s electric, for Cedric and Gunnar to jump him right away," said manager Brandon Hyde. "I thought we really competed well against him and really happy with how, when they scored we kind of hung in there. It was a good vibe in the dugout today.”

"I’m in the dugout," Young said, "and I’m still trying to catch my breath and they hit back to back in the first inning, that was freaking awesome, yeah."

Ryan O’Hearn was nailed by a slider and felt lucky. Greene drilled Kjerstad on the right arm with a 99.5 mph fastball, leaving the outfielder in obvious pain as he grimaced and bent forward. The ball struck the protective guard near the elbow, perhaps sparing Kjerstad from a serious injury, but it still hurt and the Orioles still wish opponents would stop using him for target practice.

“It’s just sore right now," Hyde said. "Imaged it, came back negative. It’s 100 off the elbow and kind of got him between the pad. It’s a little bit sore.

"He tried to stay in the game, went out for defense. We weren’t sure if he could throw or not. Felt OK doing that. He came back in after to swing the bat. It was pretty tight.”

Laureano replaced Kjerstad in left field in the top of the third inning. Kjerstad began the game slashing .353/.389/.941 with a double, three homers, eight RBIs and five runs scored since April 12. Laureano and Westburg went back-to-back in the seventh against Carson Spiers, who was listed as Sunday’s starter.

"I feel like I put together some pretty good at-bats today," Westburg said. "Just didn't get lucky, but yeah, my swing feels a little bit better. I've been grinding away at the cage trying to get this figured out, so it's going to be a good stepping stool for these next couple of games and next couple days, just to build on.”

"Just made some adjustments. I’m trying to work hard and stay positive and just getting back to where I feel like myself is kind of how I would put it."

Westburg has been working with the hitting coaches. He spent a considerable amount of time one afternoon sitting at a clubhouse table with assistant Sherman Johnson.

"It can be hard because, for me, I want to help this team win so badly and if my name is in the lineup I expect a lot out of myself," Westburg said. "I put a lot of pressure on myself to perform, so when that doesn't happen it can be hard to kind of push baseball aside because I'm the kind of guy who wants to get it fixed so that tomorrow I can help a team. But I've just found that leaning on those conversations with hitting coaches, conversations with my wife - she's been a rock for me - leaning on my faith. Just something that's bigger than myself, and bigger than baseball. It's kind of what's helped me so far.”

The Orioles hadn’t hit back-to-back home runs twice in a game since June 27, 2022 in Seattle. Laureano is only the fifth Orioles player with multiple homers off the bench and the first since Trey Mancini on June 7, 2017 against the Pirates.

There was a lot to digest today.

"Definitely the player of the game," Hyde said of Laureano. "Ramón stays ready. He’s had a tough time getting opportunities so far this year. I’ve talked to him about it. I’m going to try to play him as much as I possibly can when I can get him in there. He’s a pro. He stays ready. He works his butt off every single day, so really happy to have him have the success.

"It was tough. It was tough to leave spring training and go to Toronto and never play, so you don’t see ABs for a week. All of a sudden, I’m playing him against lefties, sporadic. So for him to do what he did today, pretty impressive.”

"I think you just trick your mind, don’t get caught up in none of that stuff," Laureano said. "Just show up, be ready, load early and don’t think about that you’re not getting a chance or timing or none of that stuff. Think about none of that. Just think about how I can play the game and swing the bat. Trust your instincts, your eyes, your swing and that’s it.”

Thinking he'd be on the bench most if not all of the game, Laureano did some curls earlier in the day after learning about a new exercise.

"I was like, 'Today’s Saturday. I’m kind of bored. What am I gonna do? I’ll do some biceps I saw on Instagram. Let me do that.’ And that’s it," he said.

Typical of the unpredictable nature of baseball, Laureano was signed for $4 million to do damage against lefties. Both home runs came against right-handers.

“I think that people can get impatient a little bit early," Hyde said. "It’s a six-month season and those guys were signed by the front office to handle certain things because of track record and they’re going to get opportunities to play and everybody’s going to get an opportunity to play. So today was an example of that.”

Greene threw 29 pitches in the inning, 12 more than Young in the top of the first. The Reds collected four hits but scored only one run because Tyler O’Neill threw out Hays at the plate on Santiago Espinal’s ground ball into right field. Lux had an RBI single on an 0-2 fastball.

Jake Fraley led off the second by becoming the first Reds player to homer onto Eutaw Street and the 132^nd in ballpark history. A changeup traveled 429 feet and tied the game 2-2. Jeimer Candelario walked and Young picked him off. Jose Trevino followed with a double and scored on TJ Friedl’s go-ahead double, the seventh Cincinnati batter in a row to reach base.

The inning cost Young 29 pitches. No one warmed in the bullpen, and he retired the side in order in the third on 17 and got a double play in a 12-pitch fourth.

“I thought he was solid," Hyde said. "I thought they were aggressive on him with strikes. I think he had a tough time slowing them down, speeding him up, but I thought the stuff was OK. The stuff was good. First start in the big leagues, that’s never easy. I thought he controlled his emotions well. I thought the stuff was what we saw in spring training. Just had a tough time keeping guys off-balance.”  

"I mean, wasn’t what I intended for, but it was the first time out there, big league stadium, big league mound," Young said. "So I think just continue to grow from here."

Young, a classic rock fan who warmed to Jimi Hendrix’s “Power of Soul,” is the first homegrown pitcher developed in the Mike Elias era to make the majors. MLB Pipeline ranks him as the No. 19 prospect in the system. What happens next will be gleaned later.

Kyle Gibson was supposed to make his third start Sunday with Triple-A Norfolk, but the Orioles transferred him to High-A Aberdeen due to a bad weather forecast in Omaha. The question becomes whether the Orioles reinstate Gibson from the injured list after the weekend, perhaps starting him Friday in Detroit, or give him one more game on his optional assignment. And do they option Young and bring up a fresh bullpen arm, though they're off again Monday?

Bryan Baker stranded Young’s batter and the two that he walked. Keegan Akin allowed a run in the sixth on TJ Friedl’s RBI bunt single, but Seranthony Dóminguez replaced him and Matt McLain grounded into a 5-4-3 double play. Elly De La Cruz led off the seventh with a single and stole second and third base, Gregory Soto walked Lux with one out and Fraley with two, and Candelario grounded into a force.

Batters were 0-for-32 against Greene’s slider this season until Ramón Urías doubled in the second inning. Greene struck out Adley Rutschman and Jordan Westburg with the pitch before Urías came to the plate.

Urías scored on Henderson’s double on a 99.9 mph fastball, 107.8 mph off the bat, to tie the game 3-3. Greene hadn’t allowed more than two runs since Aug. 8, 2024. He missed a month with elbow soreness after going on the injured list Aug. 17.

Laureano’s home run also came on a slider after O’Neill walked. Greene hadn’t allowed three home runs since Sept. 26, 2023 in Cleveland. He hadn’t surrendered five runs or more since June 25, 2024.

Urías’ single with two outs was the last Orioles hit until Laureano’s homer in the seventh. The offense can shine bright, flicker and go dark.

O’Hearn and O’Neill had RBI singles in the eighth and Laureano flied to the center field fence. Those insurance runs would loom as large as Bautista.

* The Orioles won’t have an update on Grayson Rodriguez until early next week because it’s the weekend and Easter holiday. Rodriguez is seeking other opinions after getting an MRI on his sore right shoulder.

* Reliever Scott Blewett could be claimed on waivers, traded or outrighted after the Orioles designated him for assignment earlier today. Blewett allowed an unearned run and five hits with six strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings over two appearances.sd

“We had to make a move and unfortunately that was the move we made, from a standpoint that he really pitched well,” said manager Brandon Hyde. “He did a great job in kind of the role he was in and saved our bullpen. We don’t have him the last few days, we’re throwing a lot of guys we don’t want to throw in that situation. ,

“He did an amazing job of throwing strikes. I liked his three pitches. Had a really good split to lefties, slider was good, kind of pitched off those two pitches and snuck a heater in ever once in a while. Thought he competed really well. Really enjoyed having him. Hope he gets through.”

* Triple-A Norfolk’s Cameron Weston tossed four scoreless innings today with three hits, four walks and three strikeouts in an 11-1 win in Omaha. Roansy Contreras followed with three scoreless and hitless innings.

Dylan Carlson went 3-for-4 with a walk, three RBIs and three runs. Terrin Vavra was 3-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs.

Double-A Chesapeake pitcher Patrick Reilly was removed from the game with right elbow discomfort.