Before Wednesday night’s game against the Red Sox, Boston manager Alex Cora expressed effusive praise for Orioles star Gunnar Henderson.
Cora complimented Henderson’s physicality, his athleticism, his swing, his defense, his arm, his speed, his makeup. Then the skipper paused, grinned and gave his most honest assessment yet.
“He’s going to be a pain in the butt in the AL East for a while,” Cora said.
Henderson proved that Wednesday by spanking the Red Sox in the form of a 422-foot grand slam, propelling Baltimore to a 6-1 win at Camden Yards. The second-inning blast — Henderson’s MLB-high-tying 18th of the season — provided more than enough run support for ace Corbin Burnes, who shoved for seven innings of one-run ball.
With two outs and the bases loaded, Henderson made Red Sox starter Kutter Crawford pay for hanging a sweeper, as the 22-year-old shortstop clobbered the pitch 109.2 mph into the right-center field bleachers. The blast gave the Orioles an early 5-1 lead, which Burnes and his bullpen never put in danger.
“I have a good feeling whenever Gunnar’s at the plate,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “Just because of how he’s swinging the bat all year long. That was a great swing.”
The grand slam was the second of Henderson’s young career. The first time he did so — June 13, 2023, against the Toronto Blue Jays — it was in the midst of his coronation as one of baseball’s best young players, eventually winning the American League Rookie of the Year Award.
His slam Wednesday didn’t provide a similar revelation about the type of player Henderson will be. He already is that player — a bona fide superstar — and his roaring start is looking less like a hot streak and more like the Orioles’ everyday reality.
“He’s been great,” Burnes said. “He’s electric on both sides of the ball. Makes the great plays at shortstop, obviously does pretty well at the plate, runs the bases well. He does everything well. He’s definitely been our top player this year.
“What he’s done for us this year is huge.”
Wednesday’s game was Baltimore’s 54th of the season, completing the first third of its 162-game season. Henderson, who is hitting .258 with a team-best .938 OPS, is on pace for 54 home runs, which would best Chris Davis’ 53 in 2013 for the most in franchise history.
Only three hitters in MLB history age 22 or younger have totaled more than 18 home runs through his team’s first 54 games of a season: Alex Rodriguez (20 in 1998), Harmon Killebrew (19 in 1959) and Eddie Mathews (19 in 1953). Killebrew and Mathews were both inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, while Rodriguez is one of the greatest home run hitters in baseball history.
Henderson, who smacked 29 long balls last year, is the fourth player in Orioles history to hit 50 home runs before turning 23 years old, joining Orioles legends Eddie Murray, Boog Powell and Manny Machado. Henderson turns 23 on June 29.
“It’s cool,” Henderson said of his achievement. “I didn’t even know that, but, yeah, it’s definitely cool to hit that. Just got to keep going and just see where it goes.”
Ramón Urías provided the other two runs Wednesday, driving home Colton Cowser with an RBI single in the second before Henderson’s slam and hitting his second homer of the season in the seventh.
Burnes again pitched like the ace the Orioles acquired in the offseason, delivering his seventh straight quality start. He threw a season-high 108 pitches and completed the seventh inning for the second time this year.
With two runners on and one out in the seventh, he stayed in despite his rising pitch count, getting David Hamilton to fly out and striking out Ceddanne Rafaela. Normally calm and composed, the 29-year-old right-hander let out a scream as the announced 18,857 at Camden Yards gave him a standing ovation.
Through his first 12 starts as an Oriole, Burnes sports a sparkling 2.35 ERA.
“Every time he’s pitched he’s given us a really good chance to win,” Hyde said. “Huge for us that Gunnar hit that ball out to give a little breathing room for him and let him to really kind of relax.”
Baltimore is 35-19 and winners of six of its past seven games. The club is one game back of the AL East-leading New York Yankees, who play on the West Coast late Wednesday night. The Orioles have won or split 18 straight divisional series dating to April 2023. They are 5-1 against the Red Sox (28-28) this year and 9-3 versus the AL East.
After winning 101 games last year, Baltimore is on pace to win 105.
“We’re in a great spot,” Burnes said. “We have 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 we start October. Right now, it’s great winning all these games, but looking at the long run of things, you want to be ready for September and October.
“We’ve played great baseball, and we’ve just got to keep our heads down.”
Urías and catcher James McCann, the Orioles’ Nos. 8 and 9 hitters, made Henderson’s slam possible. Urías’ RBI single tied the game at 1, and McCann drew his first walk of the season in his 81st plate appearance.
“The McCann walk led to the Gunnar grand slam, so I think we’re celebrating the walk inside the clubhouse,” Hyde joked.
McCann flung his bat towards the Orioles’ dugout, mimicking Henderson, whose disdain for ball four has led to him angrily accepting the free base with an aggressive bat toss.
Brandon Hyde has noticed Gunnar Henderson’s post-walk bat tosses.
“It’s almost hit me a couple times,” he quipped.
Hyde isn’t sure if Henderson is doing it out of frustration or to pimp his walks. Either way:
“I like it. It’s an aggressive walk.” pic.twitter.com/dw7fJ3noqz
— Jacob Calvin Meyer (@jcalvinmeyer) May 28, 2024
“I actually was locked in, I didn’t see it,” Henderson said with a laugh. “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 it was a good one.”
The big fly also served as redemption after Henderson struck out on three pitches with the bases loaded in the sixth inning of Tuesday’s loss.
“It’s just a credit to the guys in front of me and then Mac for drawing that walk to put me in that situation,” Henderson said. “I was glad to be able to come through today.”
Henderson’s slam was the Orioles’ third of the season, joining Adley Rutschman and Anthony Santander. He’s tied with Houston Astros outfielder Kyle Tucker atop MLB’s home run leaderboard, ahead of New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge (17).
“Wow, that’s incredible,” Urías said about Henderson’s homer. “It’s like every night he hits a homer. It’s great being around him.”
The lone blemish of Burnes’ night came in the second inning when his defense put on an “uncharacteristic” display, Hyde said, to allow an unearned run to score. Connor Wong singled, advanced to second on a throwing error by Cowser in left field, went to third on a botched pickoff attempt that was ruled an error on Henderson and scored when second baseman Jorge Mateo’s throw home on a grounder by Dominic Smith was too high for McCann.
After a mound conference with the Orioles infield, Burnes buckled down and was dominant the rest of the way through drizzling rain, scattering three hits and three walks with five strikeouts. The win was Burnes’ fifth of the season — tying Grayson Rodriguez and Cole Irvin for the team lead — and 50th of his impressive seven-year career.
“That was 50? It took a while,” Burnes quipped.
The Orioles are off Thursday for the last time until June 17. The next 17 games include 11 versus AL East opponents and six against the Atlanta Braves and Philadelphia Phillies — two of the National League’s three best teams.
Around the horn
• Jordan Westburg didn’t play Wednesday after taking a 95.5 mph fastball off his hand/wrist Tuesday. Hyde said Westburg is sore but that imaging on the infielder’s hand/wrist came back clean and the Orioles “got lucky” that it’s not worse.
• Catcher Adley Rutschman also didn’t play, receiving his second full game off this year and fourth time not starting. Ryan Mountcastle replaced Rutschman in the No. 2 hole.
• After the game, the Orioles announced their starting rotation for their weekend series against the Tampa Bay Rays at Camden Yards. The rotation is remaining on turn with Albert Suárez, Kyle Bradish and Cole Irvin taking the ball Friday, Saturday and Sunday, respectively.
Rays at Orioles
Friday, 7:05 p.m.
TV: MASN2
Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM
