It was a Wednesday afternoon in late July. There are still months to go until the end of the regular season, but if the Orioles make the playoffs, they'll look back on what happened in a crazy series finale in Detroit and can think about how meaningful it was.
Baltimore fell behind 7-0 with Tigers ace Tarik Skubal on the mound. But the Orioles rallied to tie it and send the game to extra innings, went ahead 9-7 on RBIs by Yohel Pozo and Jackson Holliday in the top of the 11th, then watched Rico Garcia surrender the lead right back on the first pitch of the bottom half of the inning. They didn't give up.
With two outs and two strikes in the 12th, Colton Cowser muscled a sinker that didn't sink into short center field, scoring Taylor Ward from third, and Grant Wolfram and Andrew Kittredge combined to throw a scoreless bottom half. Final: Orioles 10, Tigers 9.
The win improved Baltimore to 53-56, two games back of the final American League wild-card spot, with the trade deadline five days away. It's the kind of result a team hopes to point back to in October — the Orioles' biggest comeback victory in 17 years, since the 2009 team overcame a 10-1 deficit in Boston.
Down 7-0, and Not Especially Competitive
Through six innings, this wasn't close. Skubal was cruising in what might've been his final appearance in a Tigers uniform, and Detroit built its lead in pieces: three runs in the third — highlighted by a Javier Báez RBI single that he turned into more. Báez forced a rundown and Pete Alonso made a throwing error on the play that allowed another run to score.
The Tigers got two more in the fifth, and two in the sixth on a Zach McKinstry double, and with help from consecutive errors by Christian Encarnacion-Strand at third and Gunnar Henderson in the inning.
Trevor Rogers was due for a loss even in a game he didn't ultimately lose, allowing seven runs (only four earned) on eight hits over six innings, walking none and striking out six on 94 pitches, as he pitched in what possibly could be his last game with the Orioles with the trade deadline five days away.
The Two-Out, Five-Run Seventh
Skubal recorded the first two outs of the seventh before Baltimore turned the game over. A Jeremiah Jackson 14-pitch walk kept the inning alive, and from there it cascaded: With runners on the corner, Leody Taveras singled home Gunnar Henderson, chasing Skubal. Holliday singled in two more against Tigers right-handed reliever Kyle Finnegan, and Ward capped it with a two-run single of his own — five runs, all with two outs, all against a Tigers bullpen that had no answer once Skubal was gone.
"Super proud of guys for staying resilient," Cowser said in an on-field interview after the game. "Could kind of feel the tide turning there."
Coby Mayo added a 0-2 two-run triple to deep center in the eighth to tie it at 7-7.
Orioles manager Craig Albernaz said: "Those boys in that clubhouse are a resilient bunch. They take punches and keep on going. Wish we didn't have to. A lot of that was self-inflicted, the seven runs, but Rog was borderline outstanding for us. He had to make a lot more pitches than he should have and had to pitch with some traffic that shouldn't have been out there, but our guys battled. It was a pretty chaotic game."
Tyler Wells threw a scoreless ninth and 10th on 12 pitches.
Pozo, Holliday, and a Bench That Delivered
The first go-ahead runs in extras came from a player making his second appearance with the Orioles and another who started the day on the bench.
Yohel Pozo's 11th-inning sacrifice fly scored Encarnación-Strand, and Holliday — pinch-hitting — followed with a single to score Mayo and make it 9-7. It was Holliday's second big hit of the day; he finished 2-for-3 with three RBI without starting the game. But Detroit's Spencer Torkelson answered immediately, taking Garcia -- who's been allowing home runs lately -- deep on a slider for a two-run homer to tie it back up at 9-9.
Garcia then hit a batter with a pitch. Wolfram came on and stopped things from unraveling.
Cowser's Answer in the 12th
With two outs in the 12th, Cowser, also off the bench, fell into an 0-2 hole against lefty Drew Sommers before getting the count full and fighting off a sinker into short center to score Ward and make it 10-9. Wolfram picked up the win and Kittredge got the final out with two runners on for the save.
"That was a great grindy at-bat," Albernaz said of Cowser's go-ahead plate appearance. "[He] did a great job in a 3-2 count of staying in the middle of the field, moving it forward and good things happen."
"Overall, probably one of my favorite wins we've had this year, and in my career," Cowser said. "Everyone's involved there. A lot of guys coming up with big hits. Super glad that game's over and we can have a happy flight."
Mayo finished 2-for-3 with two RBI and two walks, and Henderson - despite being 1-for-5 in the boxscore - began the five-run seventh-inning rally with a single and walked to start the eighth and score on Mayo's game-tying triple. Holliday finished the series 8-for-11.
There's still just about two months left to play in the regular season, but this was a defining game for these Orioles, who, remember, are still playing without their top two catchers who are both sluggers, the injured Adley Rutschman and Samuel Basallo. Baltimore has 11 players on the injured list. And as the calendar turns, every outcome gets more important for staying alive in the postseason race.
"Our guys don't quit. There's still a lot of season left," Albernaz said. "We're just trying to win every game and compete each day and see where we're at at the end of the year. I like our guys, and I would bet on our guys."