BALTIMORE -- James McCann hit his second home run on Friday -- the Orioles’ season-high fifth of the night -- and retreated to the dugout. As per 2024 tradition, his solo blast prompted an individual visit to the Homer Hydration Station, where the home run hitter and anybody on base at the time get to drink water from the orange-and-black, octopus-like hose prop.

Only this time, the hose McCann tried to drink from popped out of the contraption.

Evidently, it wasn’t built for this type of heavy usage.

“I guess not,” McCann said with a smile. “We’ve been wearing it out a little bit.”

That they have, because the O’s -- whose “mojo” had “drifted away” as general manager Mike Elias put it earlier in the week -- appear to be rounding back into form. And at quite an opportune time to do so.

Baltimore’s homer-heavy offensive performance backed a seven-inning scoreless gem from ace Corbin Burnes in a 7-1 victory over red-hot Detroit at Camden Yards on Friday night. McCann and Colton Cowser each went deep twice for the O’s, who won consecutive games for the first time since a three-game run from Sept. 1-3.

The Orioles (86-68), who have eight games remaining, still have a chance to catch the Yankees (90-64) in the American League East, as their deficit sits at four. The O’s are also comfortably atop the AL Wild Card standings, with a chance to clinch a postseason berth as soon as Saturday.

It felt like Baltimore (28-30 in the second half) began a resurgence on Thursday afternoon, when Anthony Santander came to the rescue with a heroic walk-off homer in a 5-3 win vs. San Francisco. One swing seemingly brought an entire vibe shift for the defending AL East champs.

Santander carried the good feelings over into Friday, hitting a two-run homer off Tigers opener Tyler Holton to give the Orioles a first-inning lead.

“That was really, honestly, a turning point in the game,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “You get Burnes with a 2-0 lead there right away.”

In September, Burnes hasn’t needed much support. The 29-year-old right-hander threw seven scoreless innings in Detroit last Saturday, then had a repeat performance on Friday. His eight strikeouts marked his most since an 11-K showing vs. the Mariners on May 19.

After struggling to a 7.36 ERA over five starts in August -- by far his worst month of the season -- Burnes has recorded a 1.08 ERA through four starts this month.

“I think we’ve had good stuff all year. Just haven’t been able to command it where we wanted to,” said Burnes, who has a 2.95 ERA over 31 starts. “So now, we’ve had good stuff and we’re commanding it.”

The Orioles’ offense made sure Burnes could cruise with their best showing in quite some time. In fact, it was the first time they scored more than five runs since a 9-0 victory vs. the White Sox on Sept. 3, and it was their first game with more than two homers since Aug. 7.

From April 5-Aug. 7, Baltimore hit three-plus homers 28 times. So it felt like a return to the stellar first half for the O’s, who still lead MLB with 224 long balls.

“Hitting is contagious, right?” McCann said. “So all it takes is that one guy to come up with a big hit, and then, next thing you know, it just follows onto everyone else in the lineup.”

Santander started it, before Cowser led off both the second and sixth with home runs. McCann hit a two-run blast in the fourth, followed by his solo shot in the sixth. Cowser and McCann became the first Orioles teammates to hit multiple homers in the same game since June 19, 2021, when Ryan Mountcastle had three and Cedric Mullins slugged two vs. the Blue Jays.

Baltimore’s five home runs were its most in a game at Camden Yards since it hit five here on Sept. 3, 2022. The club hadn’t recorded any five-homer performance since Sept. 9, 2023.

Entering Friday, the Tigers were an MLB-best 25-10 since Aug. 11, having won nine of their previous 11. So it was quite a statement for the O’s (who lost two of three in Detroit last weekend) to halt that momentum.

Perhaps this two-game win streak truly is the start of positive momentum in Baltimore.

“We’ve played good baseball the last few days. If we come out and play like that, we’re a tough team to beat,” Burnes said. “Now, it’s just about keeping it going and playing our baseball and not worry about what’s going on. We’ve got eight games left, so we’ve got to kick it into gear if we want to try to get the division. At this point, we know we’re going to be in the postseason, and that’s what’s more important.”