Déjà moo: Cowser belts walk-off HR for 2nd straight day in potential turning point for O's

BALTIMORE -- You could call Monday a turning point in the Orioles’ 2026 season. It sure felt like one, given how the past two months have gone.

You could call it Baltimore’s biggest win thus far. There’s not many who would object to that.

And you could also call it a case of déjà moo -- because for the second day in a row, the player known as The Milkman was the hero the O’s so badly needed.

Memorial Day brought the type of wild, crazy, most back-and-forth game that only baseball can offer, as Colton Cowser belted a walk-off two-run home run in the bottom of the 13th inning at Camden Yards and lifted the Orioles to a 9-7 win over the Rays.

It was the second walk-off hit of Cowser’s four-year, 315-game MLB career. The first came about 26 1/2 hours earlier, as the 26-year-old outfielder hit a game-ending three-run homer to lift Baltimore to a 5-3 victory in the first half of a doubleheader split vs. Detroit the day before.

Sunday was fun. Monday was better.

“Probably one of my favorite wins on the Orioles,” Cowser said. “There's a couple that are up there, and that was one of my favorite complete team wins.”

It’s easy to understand why Cowser felt that way, as a game that was tied at 2 after nine innings evolved into a type of slugfest nobody could have envisioned.

The best way to unpack this one is to go inning by inning, beginning with the 10th.

The scoreless 10th
With such a high final score, it’s almost hard to believe neither team scored in the 10th.

The O’s can thank Rico Garcia for that, as the 32-year-old right-hander continued his remarkable season out of the bullpen by following his scoreless ninth with a scoreless 10th. Tampa Bay had the bases loaded with one out, yet Garcia wiggled out of it -- striking out Richie Palacios and getting Cedric Mullins to line out to first base -- to lower his ERA to 0.77 through 25 appearances.

“Rico does what Rico does,” manager Craig Albernaz said.

The first punches exchanged in the 11th
When Victor Mesa Jr. opened the 11th with a two-run homer off Tyler Wells to give the Rays a 4-2 lead, it felt like the Orioles would regret not generating any offense a half-inning earlier. It was going to take an immediate bounce-back to either extend the game or end it.

But Baltimore did exactly enough to stay alive, as RBI singles from Pete Alonso and Jeremiah Jackson tied the contest at 4 before an out was even recorded in the inning.

“It’s tough when the visiting team, I wouldn’t say has the advantage, but they put up two and now you’re chasing,” Albernaz said. “Our guys did a great job of not trying to do too much and having great at-bats and passing the baton to the next guy. I couldn’t be more proud of this group.”

Smaller punches (and a slide) traded in the 12th
After the Rays manufactured a run in the top of the 12th by taking a 5-4 lead on a sac fly from Jonathan Aranda, the O’s had to be resilient again. For a brief moment, they appeared to have squandered an opportunity and let the game slip away.

With Cowser on third base and one out, Gunnar Henderson hit a ground ball to first baseman Aranda, who was playing in. Aranda threw home, Nick Fortes went for the tag and Cowser was called out. But the Orioles weren’t so sure.

It looked like Fortes’ glove may have initially missed Cowser, whose left hand seemingly touched the plate safely. And after a replay review, the call was overturned and the game was again tied, this time at 5.

“I didn't know where he tagged me. I just felt contact kind of on this arm. I didn't know what it was,” Cowser said. “Turned out it was a leg.”

The final showdown in the 13th
Tampa Bay quickly went ahead, 7-5, in the top of the 13th, getting an RBI single from Mullins and a sac fly by Fortes. There was no way Baltimore could withstand this and answer back again, right?

Wrong.

Leody Taveras opened the bottom of the 13th with an RBI double, Blaze Alexander followed with a single and Jackson Holliday re-tied the game at 7 with a sac fly. Once again, the O’s just wouldn’t quit.

“That was just awesome,” Alexander said. “That was probably the funnest, most dramatic baseball game I’ve been a part of.”

“It is crazy,” Taveras added.

Unlike the previous two innings, the Orioles didn’t let the game continue. Cowser stepped to the plate with Alexander on second and one out, then connected on a 2-1 slider from right-hander Jesse Scholtens and jolted it a Statcast-projected 425 feet over the right-center-field wall.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Cowser became the second player in O’s history (since 1954) to hit a walk-off homer on consecutive days, joining Fred Lynn (May 10 and 11, 1985).

“Just trying to put something in play through the middle. A single was all we needed, and ended up hitting a homer,” Cowser said. “So, I should, you know, do that more often.”

How important was this?
It’s impressive that the Orioles won in the manner they did in 13 innings, their longest game since May 20, 2022. It’s even more so when considering they were playing the Rays, who are an American League-best 34-17 and had a 22-4 stretch from April 22-last Friday.

Tampa Bay swept a three-game set against Baltimore last week at Tropicana Field. The O’s understood the importance of not letting that happen again. And they realize they need to capitalize on this momentum and carry it into the final two games of this week’s series.

At 24-30, Baltimore clearly hasn’t played its best baseball. Yet, sitting only two games out of a playoff spot, the Orioles are focused on getting hot and going on a roll.

“That's one of the best teams in the league, and we can outplay those guys. We can outplay every team, really,” Alexander said. “Sometimes, you need a win like that just to kind of push you over the edge.”