BALTIMORE (AP) — Colton Cowser hit his 21st and 22nd home runs, James McCann added his sixth and seventh and the Orioles went deep a season-high five times in a 7-1 win over the Detroit Tigers on Friday night.
With the win, the Orioles were 3 1/2 games behind the New York Yankees in the AL East standings but moved to 3 1/2 games ahead of the Kansas City Royals for the top spot in the AL wild card.
Detroit dropped a half-game behind the Minnesota Twins for the final AL wild card spot.
Anthony Santander contributed his 43rd round-tripper — his second in as many games — off Tigers opener Tyler Holton (7-2) as the Orioles won consecutive games for the first time in more than two weeks.
“We’ve played good baseball the last two days,” said Corbin Burnes (15-8), who pitched seven shutout innings for a second time in as many games against Detroit. “So now it’s just about keeping it going and playing our baseball, and not worrying about what’s going on (elsewhere).”
Burnes struck out eight, yielded three hits and three walks, and lowered his ERA to 2.95 as the Orioles opened a three-game set against one of baseball’s hottest teams. The Tigers had won their previous four and nine of their last 11 entering Friday.
Keider Montero struck out seven but yielded Baltimore’s final four homers over five innings of middle relief for the Tigers.
“I told him on the mound, ‘Keep your head high. You’re going to get the ball again in five or six days and you’re going to help us win,'” Detroit manager A.J. Hinch said.
Trey Sweeney had a late RBI single for Detroit.
McCann’s second shot sailed into the Baltimore bullpen, where reliever Cionel Perez caught it with an outstretched cap — his sixth such feat this season. That completed Baltimore’s first game with multiple players hitting multiple homers since June of 2021, and brought its season total to 224.
“We haven’t had homers in bunches like this in a while, and we did in the first half,” said Baltimore manager Brandon Hyde. “It was a fun night for us offensively.”
Detroit played from behind from the start. A miscommunication between outfielders Parker Meadows and Kerry Carpenter gifted Gunnar Henderson a leadoff double.
Three batters later, Santander lined Holton’s 2-2 cutter just over the 398-foot sign in deep left-center to make it 2-0 and set in motion a comfortable victory after his walk-off shot decided Thursday’s 5-3 win over San Francisco.
“With two outs, two strikes and he goes deep, that was … honestly a turning point in the game,” Hyde said. “Getting Burnes with a lead there, a 2-0 lead right away.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Tigers: Rookie 3B Colt Keith (right shoulder) returned to the lineup in the DH role after missing Tuesday’s game. Manager A.J. Hinch said he could return to playing defense later this series, or in Detroit’s next series at home against Tampa Bay.
Orioles: Activated LHP Danny Coulombe (left elbow surgery) from the 60-day injured list and placed RHP Burch Smith (right groin strain) on the 15-day injured list. Coulombe worked a scoreless eighth. … Held out OF Cedric Mullins (neck discomfort) after his involvement in an outfield collision on Thursday. … Sent 1B Ryan Mountcastle to begin a rehab assignment at Triple-A Norfolk.
UP NEXT
Orioles Rookie LHP Cade Povich (2-9. 5.74 ERA) tries to build on a promising September in which he’s pitched to a 3.18 ERA over three starts. The Tigers send out another opener in RHP Reese Olson (4-8, 3.50).
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
Ian Nicholas Quillen, The Associated Press