And, if this is a rehearsal, this is a game Baltimore will hope to replicate frequently. It featured the first hit of Basallo\u2019s career, a 101 mph rocket that landed for a two-run single. But it also included the sort of pass-the-baton offense that puts up runs in bunches and resulted in a 12-0 win against the Houston Astros at Daikin Park.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do not want our young players to play in a losing environment,\u201d interim manager Tony Mansolino said. \u201cWe might not win every game, but we have to play to win the game. We want these kids to understand that playing to win the game is very different than going out there and trying to put up your numbers.\u201d<\/p>\n
In doing so, the numbers will follow. <\/b>Take the fifth inning, for example, which featured a veritable veteran at the advanced age of 26. The rest were 25, 24 and 21. They went single, single, single, home run against the Houston Astros, and they showed this lineup\u2019s potential.<\/p>\n
Jordan Westburg, that veteran despite being 26, knocked the decisive blow of that inning. His three-run shot followed singles from Dylan Beavers, Jeremiah Jackson and Jackson Holliday to provide the Orioles with a comfortable lead to which they\u2019d continually add.<\/p>\n
But the promise of this weekend extended to various aspects of play, just as some of the detrimental moments underscored the mistakes that can come from youth.<\/p>\n
This series started with 7 2\/3 innings of perfect pitching from right-hander Brandon Young. On Saturday, in a 12-inning loss, there was much to like, including Beavers\u2019 first major league hit. And Sunday, with Basallo the latest hype-inducing prospect to enter the fold, Baltimore closed out a series win with right-hander Dean Kremer dealing.<\/p>\n
To come here, to face a division-leading foe and take two of the three games is a major positive for a team that has flunked other tests this season. And it plays into the momentum Mansolino hopes to build over the last month and a half.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got to kind of find a way right now to find out about our players, make sure they get better here at the big league level and get prepared for next year,\u201d Mansolino said before the game. \u201cWe also got to figure out how to win games here, too, because I don\u2019t think it\u2019s a good thing if we go over this next month and a half and we lose the momentum we\u2019ve built up over the last three months. <\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/64RONYTK6BG7HKFDYFP5VHEFMA.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Orioles designated hitter Samuel Basallo is hit by a pitch in his first major league plate appearance Sunday in Houston. (Tim Warner\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
\u201cThat wouldn\u2019t be ideal, and I don\u2019t think that would be smart,\u201d he continued. \u201cAnd while we do want to see these players, and we\u2019re prospect crazy throughout the industry and in Baltimore \u2014 prospect crazy, it\u2019s a real thing \u2014 we can\u2019t lose sight of the fact we are in the big leagues and the Baltimore Orioles winning games is very important, regardless of the circumstances surrounding it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Perhaps they can do both. Perhaps the Orioles can test their young players \u2014 the likes of whom filled the lineup Sunday \u2014 and still win. After all, Baltimore has turned a corner. Since June, the Orioles are 36-31. At that pace over the course of 162 games, they would win about 87 games. That is right on the border of what it takes to make the postseason.<\/p>\n
With the right offseason supplements, and with the continued improvement of these newly minted everyday players, the Orioles can set themselves up for a 2026 run.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we want to force the front office\u2019s hand, or force things to happen in this organization, we\u2019ve got to prove that we\u2019re able to play winning baseball,\u201d Westburg said. \u201cThat\u2019s very important to this clubhouse. That\u2019s very important to me. I hate losing, and I don\u2019t care what the clubhouse looks like or what the record looks like, who we\u2019re facing. My one goal when we step on the field is to play winning baseball, any way I possibly can.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the near term, Baltimore produced one of its best games this season by rectifying its production with runners in scoring position. In Saturday\u2019s loss, the Orioles finished 0-for-14 in that department. On Sunday they hit 7-for-14, and Westburg was a major reason.<\/p>\n
Westburg hit his 15th homer of the year, which ties Holliday for the most on the team, in the fifth inning. He added a fourth RBI with a seventh-inning single, and his fourth knock landed in the eighth for a career-high fifth RBI. <\/b>As part of that five-run eighth, Basallo notched the first hit of his career, splitting the infield on a line.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/VAAR6VBX2FHAZDNHV2GI6J5ZIA.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Dean Kremer allowed three hits and a walk while striking out seven Astros in seven innings. (Tim Warner\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was just really special for me,\u201d Basallo said through team interpreter Brandon Quinones. \u201cBeing able to be here today with my family, with my loved ones, that\u2019s what really means a lot to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Basallo said his parents booked plane tickets from the Dominican Republic to Houston about 15 minutes after they called their son to inform him he was being promoted. Two hours after the call, they were at the airport, ready to go. At Daikin Park, they hugged and celebrated a moment they\u2019ll never forget.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was an incredibly special feeling,\u201d Basallo said. \u201cI\u2019m not going to say I wasn\u2019t nervous, but it really just was a special feeling, and when I finally stepped into the batter\u2019s box, I think it all hit me and I felt really happy.\u201d<\/p>\n
It could\u2019ve been a wider gap, had one man in right field not played the villain twice. Gunnar Henderson, whose web gem at shortstop prevented a run off Kremer in the second inning, was robbed himself by Astros outfielder Jes\u00fas S\u00e1nchez. S\u00e1nchez leaped at the fence and pulled back a would-be grand slam in the third, forcing the Orioles to settle for a sacrifice fly.<\/p>\n
And in the seventh, after two runs scored, Basallo came close to making his first major league hit a three-run homer. Instead, S\u00e1nchez was there, jumping to pull back another. Basallo whipped off his helmet as he passed first base, thwarted for a day.<\/p>\n
\u201cBummed for him on the home run, but also an opportunity to kind of learn how he handles adversity,\u201d Mansolino said. \u201cThis isn\u2019t going to be easy. This is going to be really hard. Watching how he handled that was a positive, and then the bigger positive, obviously, the big hit right there into right-center.\u201d<\/p>\n
The run support wasn\u2019t necessary, not with the way Kremer pitched for the second straight start. Last week, Kremer allowed one run in eight innings. Against the Astros, he worked seven scoreless frames on a career-high 114 pitches.<\/p>\n
Kremer often jokes with Mansolino that he wants to stay in for 120 pitches each start. \u201cThe guys back in the day got 150, the reason why they threw 600 innings every year,\u201d Kremer said. \u201cIt\u2019d be cool to throw 120.\u201d<\/p>\n
To have his leash extended by Mansolino on Sunday was an honor.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a great feeling having them have the confidence in me to try to get that job done,\u201d Kremer said. <\/p>\n
There\u2019s a reason for that confidence, of course. Since May, Kremer has shown himself to be a reliable starter. He held a 7.04 ERA after his first six outings. Then he posted a 3.16 ERA over his next 19 games \u2014 the sort of form that suggests Kremer will be a critical piece of next year\u2019s rotation.<\/p>\n
Take all of that into the equation, and there\u2019s plenty to watch the remainder of this season. The World Series aspirations in spring training went awry almost immediately. What\u2019s remaining, however, is still captivating baseball. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt is important for us to keep stacking those together,\u201d Westburg said, \u201cto keep remembering that, yeah, this doesn\u2019t happen this year, but we\u2019re playing for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n
This article has been updated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON \u2014 What had been a stagnating season received a jolt of life this weekend, and suddenly the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":155744,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[590,591,1266,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-155743","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-american-league","9":"tag-baseball","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-unitedstates","14":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115049847713163684","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155743","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155743"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155743\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/155744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}