Santander homers twice and Orioles begin second half with 9-1 win (updated)

ARLINGTON, Texas – The Orioles already confronted the team that swept them in the Division Series, winning three of four games in Baltimore. However, tonight’s matchup brought them back to the scene of the final crime.

The visiting clubhouse at Globe Life Field was a bit livelier this afternoon than on Oct. 10, when a 7-1 loss to the Rangers put the finishing torch to their championship aspirations.

“You had to bring that up?” manager Brandon Hyde joked earlier today.

“That was not a fun series in any way. We played good here besides that, though. So regular season, good memories, postseason, bad memory.”

Nathan Eovaldi won the decisive Game 3, but the Orioles jumped him early tonight. Adley Rutschman and Colton Cowser hit two-run homers in the first inning, Anthony Santander homered twice and Corbin Burnes registered his 16^th quality start in a 9-1 victory before an announced crowd of 36,336.

Burnes held the Rangers to one run and two hits in six innings, and the Orioles improved to 59-38 as they stormed out of the break. They’re 4-1 against Texas. The division lead remains at one game.

Nathaniel Lowe homered to center field with two outs in the second, the ball traveling 434 feet at 107.2 mph off the bat. But Burnes retired eight of the first nine batters, struck out Josh Smith to strand runners on the corners in the third and made it out of the sixth after issuing two walks, thanks to Jorge Mateo’s diving stop and throw to deny Lowe.

"Obviously, he’s very quick," Burnes said of Mateo. "Speed’s part of his game, and that translates pretty well to the defensive side of the ball. He’s made great plays all year. I didn’t know if he was going to quite get there. But if you ask him, he’s like, ‘Oh, I had it the whole way. You don’t have to doubt me.’ It was a great play."

Burnes was the second pitcher to start the All-Star Game and then start his team’s first game after the break in the same ballpark, according to STATS. The other pitcher was the Red Sox’s Bill Monbouquette, who started the All-Star Game at Kansas City’s Municipal Stadium in 1960 and stayed there for the opening game of the second half.

The four walks tonight were a season high but didn't hurt him.

“Pretty much what he’s been doing," Hyde said. "A few more walks than normal but just so ultra-competitive on the mound and limits damage. Gets out of a big spot there in the sixth off a guy who took some good at-bats off him earlier. Just a pro.

“Definitely not a normal in-between start routine for him. He goes home, not normal rest, pitches in the All-Star Game, throws an inning. Then two days off and back at it in a big league game. Didn’t look like he missed a beat. He was fantastic tonight.”

Burnes, pitching in his first regular season game in Texas, said it felt like "a normal start" despite going back to his Arizona home and Tuesday's 19-pitch appearance.

"Once I get going in my routine pregame, I’m able to kind of flip the switch and lock in a little bit," he said. "Obviously, wasn’t as crisp tonight. Four walks is never something we’re trying to do. Two of them were kind of being careful with and just making sure we’re not getting beat in situations. But the other two were just poor pitches that led to walks. Outside of that, I thought I threw the ball really well. These guys came out swinging in the second half, so it’s good to see. Off to a good start here."

Gunnar Henderson led off the top of the first inning with a single and Adley Rutschman followed with his 17^th home run on a 1-2 splitter that was 105.1 mph off the bat. Ryan O’Hearn doubled and Colton Cowser launched a two-out curveball 420 feet to right-center field for his first homer since June 28, also against the Rangers.

The sounds coming from the stands were a mix of booing and mooing.

Eovaldi limited the Orioles to one run in seven innings in the playoffs. They led 4-0 tonight after the first.

"That’s big for us, getting four runs there in the first inning," Hyde said. "It’s a guy we’ve had some trouble with over the past few years. Kind of right away, really good at-bats off him. To put up four runs in the first with Corbin Burnes on the mound, you feel good about that.”

Henderson collected the third of his four singles in the fifth inning and Anthony Santander hit his 25^th homer, a four-seam fastball sailing 409 feet at 106.9 mph. Nothing cheap against Eovaldi, who hadn’t surrendered three homers in a start since the Astros hit five against him on May 17, 2022. His last outing with exactly three was Aug. 15, 2020 at Yankee Stadium.

Henderson singled in the seventh off Jonathan Hernández for his third career four-hit game, Rutschman walked and Santander lined a sinker to right field at 106.9 mph for a 9-1 lead. The five RBIs tied his career high.

"He’s played great," Burnes said. "He’ll tell you he’s a slow starter and then he’ll turn it on when the weather warms up, and he’s done that. It’s been incredible. His last two months have really been really good. Like you say, both sides of the ball, swinging the bat well, playing great defense. I think he’s kind of been a difference-maker being a veteran guy there in the middle of the lineup."

Said Cowser: "Gunnar probably had the most casual four-hit night that kind of got overshadowed by all those home runs."

Santander’s 26 homers are tied for fourth on the major league leaderboard. He’s the eighth player in Orioles history with at last 15 career multi-homer games, joining Cal Ripken Jr. (21), Boog Powell and Eddie Murray (20), Manny Machado and Chris Davis (19). Brady Anderson (17) and Frank Robinson (16).

"He’s catching Gunnar, right?" Cowser said. "He made sure to tell Gunnar that. It’s really impressive. He’s the same guy every day. Comes to the ballpark, knows his routine, and very impressive.”

Santander and Henderson finished tied for the team lead last year with 28 homers. It's a friendly competition that gets referenced quite often in the clubhouse.

"I always tell him, ‘Keep going, kid. Keep going. Let’s go, vamos,'" Santander said, smiling. "If that happens, we’re going to be really close or tied."

The Orioles scored eight runs in their last 51 innings and 10 in their last six games before tonight. They were due for a breather.

“I thought we took some really good at-bats," Hyde said. "We hit a lot of balls hard. They played some really good defense behind him. I thought the at-bats were excellent. I think we needed a little bit of a break. We were kind of grinding there going into the All-Star break. Maybe a little sit down and relax for a few days was what we needed.”

"I think everyone was excited to get back," Cowser said. "Those three days were not only a physical reset, but I think a mental reset for a lot of guys. Our offense came out like how we know we can perform and we got a great start in Corbin. We always feel like we’re in the game whenever he’s throwing, so to be able to get an early lead like that was huge.” 

The ghosts of Game 3 can’t be exorcised, but the Orioles came out swinging at them.

“It hasn’t felt like it was that long ago, honestly, so the drive into where we park here and the whole thing, that was a little strange,” Hyde said. “That wasn’t a very fun evening that night.”

Asked whether being here today revived painful memories from last October, O’Hearn said, “Of course.”

“Bad memories in this locker room,” he said. “But it’s a new year, new opportunity. If anybody can try to get motivation from being here, then that’s great, but we’ve got plenty of motivation other than being in this locker room.”

Santander couldn’t fight the feeling when he walked into the clubhouse.

“I thought about it,” he said, “but we let it go.”

* Jackson Holliday led off tonight’s game at Triple-A Norfolk with a home run off Joe Ross. It happened on the first pitch, giving him nine homers this season and five leading off.

His next at-bat produced his 10^th, a three-run shot in the second.

Terrin Vavra replaced Holliday and delivered a tie-breaking, three-run triple in the seventh.

Chayce McDermott pitched the first inning and allowed three earned runs and four total with four hits. Cade Povich followed with a scoreless and hitless second and Tucker Davidson did the same in the third, striking out two batters. Davidson allowed three runs in the fourth and none in the fifth.

Double-A Bowie’s Seth Johnson shut out Hartford on one hit in four innings. Peter Van Loon followed with four hitless innings and seven strikeouts.

High-A Aberdeen had a combined no-hitter, beginning with 4 2/3 innings from Zach Fruit and continuing with 1 1/3 from Deivy Cruz, two from Preston Johnson (five strikeouts) and one from Kyle Virbitsky.

Single-A Delmarva catcher Aneudis Mordán hit his 13^th home run.