The Orioles’ best pitcher and hitter didn’t waste any time Sunday to play like it.
Corbin Burnes struck out the side in the top of the first en route to a dominant performance, and Gunnar Henderson clobbered a leadoff home run in the bottom half to kickstart the Orioles’ offense.
The duo — the former an experienced ace, the latter a young superstar — led Baltimore to a 6-3 win and a series triumph over the Seattle Mariners at Camden Yards. Burnes tied his season high with 11 strikeouts across six innings of one-run ball, while Henderson’s long ball was his 15th of the year, tied for most in the majors.
Burnes’ start Sunday in front of an announced 30,494 at Oriole Park was his 10th with Baltimore after the club acquired him, the franchise’s first true ace since Mike Mussina more than two decades ago, from the Milwaukee Brewers in the offseason. He is 4-2 with a 2.56 ERA and 1.04 WHIP.
Despite his numbers, the right-hander has at times expressed displeasure with his stuff, including last week when he struck out a career-low two batters. His arsenal on Sunday was as astounding as it’s been all year — or at least since his 11-strikeout show on opening day — with several swings and misses on each of his five pitches.
“Really dominant,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “He had everything going today.”
Henderson’s first-inning blast off Mariners right-hander George Kirby was his fifth this season and seventh of his nascent career. It marked the third time in four games an Orioles leadoff hitter has gone deep to begin the game. Jordan Westburg did so Wednesday in his first career start atop the order before Henderson followed suit in Friday’s win.
The long ball was also the second in as many plate appearances for Henderson after the 22-year-old shortstop went deep over Camden Yards’ left field wall — a feat just three left-handed batters have achieved since its redesign in 2022 — in the ninth inning of Saturday’s loss. Henderson hit 28 homers last year en route to winning the American League Rookie of the Year Award, but he entered the offseason knowing he had more in the tank.
“I felt there was a lot more development that I had and a lot better swings that I could’ve taken from last year,” he said. “I’m just allowing myself to do that this year and just really taking good approaches to the plate and honestly get on base for the guys behind me. Whenever I can do some damage, then I’ll try and do it.”
Colton Cowser fully emerged from his slump Sunday with three hits, including an RBI infield single in the first. The right fielder also made an impressive diving catch in the eighth to stymie a rally by the Mariners (25-22) before it started, preventing a repeat of Saturday’s comeback. James McCann hit an RBI double in the second, Ryan O’Hearn smacked his sixth homer of the season in the third and Cedric Mullins broke his hitting skid with RBI singles in the third and eighth and stole the 100th base of his career.
After reliever Jacob Webb struggled to begin the seventh and allowed two runs, Cole Irvin, a starting pitcher temporarily in Baltimore’s bullpen before the club soon moves to a six-man rotation, entered to pitch two scoreless innings. The left-hander induced a crucial double play on his first pitch, and after allowing one of Webb’s runners to score, Irvin delivered a scoreless eighth to bridge the game to closer Craig Kimbrel.
Kimbrel retired the side in order in the ninth for his first save since May 3 after the veteran was briefly relegated from the closer role. The 35-year-old ranks sixth on MLB’s all-time saves list with 426, while his outing Sunday was the 800th of his distinguished, 15-year career.
“I know he’d been itching to get out there on the mound,” Hyde said. “It was great seeing him go three-up, three-down tonight.”
Baltimore is 29-15 and still two games behind the New York Yankees for first in the AL East. The Orioles are 10-3-2 in series this season.
Henderson’s leadoff homer came on a down-and-in splitter from Kirby, baseball’s best strike-thrower who entered with a 1.50 ERA over his past five starts. The star shortstop deposited it 422 feet over the right-center field wall to continue the torrid start to his sophomore season.
On May 12, 2023, Henderson was batting .170 through the first 100 at-bats of his first full big league season. In 162 games since that day, he’s hit 40 home runs.
“It’s pretty amazing,” Hyde said. “He’s a really, really fun player to watch. He’s one of the best players in this game right now.”
After Burnes struck out the side in the first, he watched Henderson give him early run support, something the 29-year-old starter has received little of in recent weeks because of the Orioles’ inconsistent offense.
“Pretty average at best,” Burnes said with a smirk about Henderson’s homer barrage. “I mean, we’re not even through the month of May and he’s got 15 homers. He’s got, what, [five] leadoff homers? He’s got room for improvement.”
The lone run Burnes allowed came on an RBI single in the second from Luis Urías — brother of Orioles third baseman Ramón Urías — after Luke Raley led off the frame with a double that went under first baseman Ryan Mountcastle’s glove. Raley nearly doubled in a run in the third, but a perfect relay from Cowser to second baseman Jorge Mateo to McCann nabbed Cal Raleigh at the plate.
After allowing a leadoff double in the fourth, Burnes struck out the side, plus the first two batters of the fifth for five straight punchouts. A double play to end the sixth on Burnes’ 94th pitch marked the end of his afternoon. The 11-strikeout performance was the 25th time in Burnes’ seven-year career that he’s struck out 10-plus batters in a game. He scattered seven hits and walked just one batter.
“I know when I need to, I can get the punchouts,” Burnes said. “Recently we’ve been getting some quick outs with some ground balls. … Adjusted the pitch mix today and obviously had a good time.”
Burnes generated 19 whiffs, 12 of which came on his curveball and slider. Seven of his 10 starts have been quality, including each of his past five. He’s yet to surrender more than three runs in a start this year.
“That was awesome,” Henderson said of Burnes. “Just went out there and dominated. I got to see all his stuff, I got a good view of his. It was really cool watching him go to work out there.”
To build Burnes’ lead, the Orioles lined 10 batted balls at or above 100 mph off Kirby, with eight going for hits. Baltimore’s bats entered the weekend series against baseball’s best rotation slumping, but they got hot against Bryce Miller, Luis Castillo and Kirby, combining to tag the trio for 12 runs in 17 1/3 innings.
“This offense beat up some pretty good pitchers this weekend,” Burnes said. “It’s good to see.”
When Henderson homered to lead off the game, he took a two-homer lead on MLB’s leaderboard. However, Houston Astros outfielder Kyle Tucker blasted two long balls later in the afternoon to tie Henderson. The pair ranks two ahead of Yankees slugger Aaron Judge and Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani.
Does Henderson, who is on pace to hit a would-be Orioles-record 55 long balls, strive to lead the major leagues in homers?
“Yeah, I mean, yeah. Who wouldn’t say they want to be at the top in home runs in the major leagues?” Henderson said. “But, just going out there and trying to help the team win. If homers come with it, then so be it.”
So be it, indeed.
Around the horn
• Anthony Santander has a nasty bruise on his left knee after he crashed into the right field wall trying to make a catch Wednesday. Santander didn’t play Sunday after serving as the club’s designated hitter Friday and Saturday. He hasn’t played the field since he banged up his knee. He said he expects to be back to normal in a few days.
• The Orioles’ lineup Sunday featured Westburg in another new spot. After leading off for the first time in his career Wednesday, he batted in the No. 2 hole Sunday with Adley Rutschman receiving a rest day.
• The Orioles announced their starting rotation for the club’s road series against the St. Louis Cardinals beginning Monday. Dean Kremer, Kyle Bradish and John Means will start the three games opposite Sonny Gray, Lance Lynn and old friend Kyle Gibson.
• Catching prospect Samuel Basallo was removed from Double-A Bowie’s game Sunday with dizziness, the Orioles said. Basallo is Baltimore’s No. 2 prospect, according to Baseball America. The club’s No. 3 prospect, Coby Mayo, was placed on the injured list Friday with a fractured rib.
Orioles at Cardinals
Monday, 7:35 p.m.
TV: MASN2
Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM
