O's slug their way to statement win over Rangers in first meeting since ALDS

BALTIMORE -- The Rangers came to Camden Yards on Thursday, and for many Orioles fans, the sight may have evoked painful memories from last October.

In last year’s American League Division Series, Texas arrived in Baltimore and won the first two games en route to sweeping the 101-win AL East champions in Game 3 in Arlington. A special season for the O’s ended in the blink of an eye against the eventual World Series champs.

“I think we’re going to remember. That feeling sat with us for a long time, and they played great against us,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said prior to Thursday’s series opener. “Those three losses stayed with us for a while.”

Game 1 of the four-game ALDS rematch went in favor of Baltimore, which cruised to an 11-2 victory by hitting a season-high-tying four home runs for the seventh time this year. But even if the O’s sweep this series, don’t consider them even with the Rangers, considering it’s late June and not mid-October, when the stakes are much higher.

However, at the midway point of their 2024 schedule, the Orioles are 51-30 -- tied with the Yankees (52-31) atop the AL East -- and proving they’re more of a threat to make noise come this postseason. They’re a better team than they were late in ‘23, shown in various ways during the first half.

For one, Baltimore now has a bona fide ace in Corbin Burnes. The 29-year-old right-hander grinded through seven innings of one-run ball vs. Texas, and although he gave up nine hits, the only one resulting in a run was an Adolis García homer to open the fourth.

Burnes lowered his ERA to 2.28 through 17 starts in his first season with the O’s. A veteran who shows tremendous poise and composure every time he steps on the mound, Burnes led Baltimore to a second straight win, helping to further erase the season-long five-game losing streak that ended with Wednesday’s victory over Cleveland.

“When you face that adversity, you kind of start to realize, ‘Hey, what are we going to do? Are we going to roll over and let this fester and last for two, three weeks into a month? Or are we going to snap out of it and play good baseball coming out of it?’” Burnes said. “And the last two days, we played good baseball, and I think there's no reason why we can't keep playing good baseball.”

Especially with how potent the Orioles’ offense has become. Colton Cowser, Heston Kjerstad, Cedric Mullins and Adley Rutschman all went deep in the series opener, boosting the team’s MLB-best home run total to 136 -- 57 of which have come this month. It’s the most homers during a single June in club history and third-most in AL/NL history behind only the 2023 Braves (61) and 2022 Yankees (58).

Young players such as Jordan Westburg (a two-run double in the first), Kjerstad (MLB Pipeline’s No. 20 overall prospect who collected two hits and three RBIs) and Cowser (two hits and a fourth-inning diving catch in left field) have become bigger contributors for Baltimore.

Kjerstad was among the Orioles' players standing in the third-base dugout at Globe Life Field looking on as the Rangers celebrated last Oct. 10. The 25-year-old outfielder was included on the ALDS roster, but he didn’t get into a game. He then spent most of the first half this season at Triple-A Norfolk.

With his second multi-hit showing since getting recalled Monday, Kjerstad is proving he could be a key piece down the stretch for the Orioles, if he can reach the potential he has shown in the Minors.

“The ball comes off his bat a little bit different,” Hyde said.

“Everybody feeds off each other, you know?” Kjerstad said of the O’s lineup. “Everybody gets up there, you want to follow the guy that’s in front of you, the dude behind you wants to follow what you do, so it’s kind of contagious.”

There was no team meeting in Baltimore’s clubhouse to discuss facing Texas again. There didn’t need to be. The O’s aren’t focused on the teams cycling through the opposing dugout, but rather the task at hand.

Follow the first half with a second equally as impressive and rectify last October’s shortcomings with a legitimate pursuit of the franchise’s fourth World Series title.

“We didn’t really talk about it. It’s kind of burned in our memories from last year,” said designated hitter Ryan O’Hearn. “It’s something that we definitely don’t want to happen again. It’s June, so we’ve got a long way to go. Hopefully, we’ll get to where we want to be in October, and then, we’ll take it from there.”