Gunnar's grand moment powers O's in huge victory

BALTIMORE -- First Eutaw Street home run on Sunday. First American League Player of the Week Award on Monday. First grand slam at any level of baseball on Tuesday.

What a time to be Gunnar Henderson.

The Orioles’ 21-year-old phenom is on an unbelievable tear right now, and that continued Tuesday night at Camden Yards. Henderson powered Baltimore to an 11-6 victory over Toronto by becoming the first O’s rookie to hit a grand slam and to homer in three straight games since Ryan Mountcastle, who achieved both feats in 2021.

So, what does it feel like to be Henderson at the plate right now?

“I just feel like I’m very aware of what I want to do when I go up to the box and just going up there and executing my plan,” said Henderson, whose grand slam capped a six-run third. “Take a pitch if I need to, if it’s not where I want it.”

After an automatic ball due to a pitch timer violation, a 1-0 cutter from Blue Jays starter Chris Bassitt came in at 87.4 mph over the inside part of the plate. That was an offering that Henderson -- who showcases power to all fields -- knew he could do damage on. He swung and sent the ball a Statcast-projected 387 feet the opposite way into the Orioles’ bullpen in left-center field, over a leaping Kevin Kiermaier.

It wasn’t a 462-foot blast like the one that hit the warehouse on a hop on Sunday -- which was the longest in-game Eutaw Street homer in the ballpark’s 31-year history -- but Henderson’s grand slam was the latest example of what the former top prospect is capable of.

“That’s where my bread and butter is, is going that [opposite] way,” Henderson said.

Henderson, who went 3-for-5, extended his hitting streak to six games, during which he’s 13-for-24 with four homers and 10 RBIs. He’s spent the past three contests in the leadoff spot in Baltimore’s order and has gone 8-for-15 -- a pair of three-hit games and another with two.

From May 12 to now, Henderson’s average has risen from .170 to .246 and his OPS has gone from .651 to .830. He’s hit seven of his 10 home runs over that span.

“You never want to see someone deal with adversity, but it’s all part of the process and part of being a Major League player,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “Gunn just hadn’t done that up here yet, and now, he’s gone through it and he knows how to get out of it.

“There’s going to be peaks and there’s going to be valleys, and right now, he’s swinging the bat really, really well and hopefully, he can keep it going for a while.”

Considering Henderson is swinging one of the hottest bats in the big leagues, it almost had to be expected that he’d deliver another big blow when he stepped up with the bases loaded -- right?

“You can’t expect a guy to hit a grand slam. But you expect him to hit a ball hard like he’s been hitting,” said Adam Frazier, who also hit one of Baltimore’s season-high four homers. “The pitch is a cutter in and to be able to get inside of it and muscle it out to left-center, more center field, that was a pretty impressive swing.”

Now that is something you can almost always expect from Henderson, especially of late.

“He’s a special talent,” said right-hander Dean Kremer, who allowed two runs and struck out six in six innings. “The guy hits the ball hard and hits the ball far, kind of does it all.”

The Orioles (42-24) improved to 18 games over .500 for the first time since July 25, 2016, with their MLB-high 23rd comeback win of the year. In addition to Henderson and Frazier, Ryan O'Hearn and Aaron Hicks also went deep as part of Baltimore’s 17-hit attack.

Despite playing without lineup fixtures such as Cedric Mullins (out with a right groin strain) and Mountcastle (who went on the 10-day IL Tuesday due to vertigo), the O’s have notched five consecutive victories for their second-longest win streak of the season. They’re closing in on the longest, which was a seven-game run from April 16-24.

“It’s a great group of guys that we have here,” Henderson said. “It feels like it’s somebody different every night that comes through for us, and I feel like that’s a big testament to our team.”

The recent nights, though, have mostly been highlighted by Henderson. And there could be plenty more of these to come -- this year and for many years ahead.