Beavers' 'slow heartbeat' fuels 3rd walk-off hit of his career

BALTIMORE -- Dylan Beavers doesn’t care how the Orioles win games, as long as they do. His teammates would surely echo the same sentiment -- especially this time of year, with the Deadline looming and Baltimore trying to convince its front office to buy.

Still, Saturday had to feel pretty “dam” good for Beavers, the hero of the night.

Beavers lifted the O’s to a bounce-back win over the Braves, knocking a walk-off RBI single with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning for a 3-2 victory at Camden Yards. After taking a 7-6, 10-inning loss on Friday night, the Orioles responded with their ninth win in 12 games.

“It’s exciting to help the team win, whether it’s a walk-off or in the fifth inning. I think it’s all great,” Beavers said. “But yeah, it’s exciting when your whole team gets behind you and everyone’s fired up.”

Baltimore (51-54) is only 2 1/2 games back of the third American League Wild Card spot with seven games to play ahead of the Aug. 3 Trade Deadline.

“I think everyone’s aware of it. But typically, it’s just kind of a, ‘Go win the day,’ mentality. Show up every day and take that game,” Beavers said. “I think everyone in this clubhouse believes we can be really good. We just need to be better more consistently, all around. We’re all kind of in agreement on that.”

Resilient efforts like the one on Saturday -- and other strong showings of late -- continue to showcase the O’s potential.

For the second straight night, right-hander Rico Garcia gave up a game-tying solo home run in the eighth inning to an Atlanta hitter. Ozzie Albies led off the frame with a blast that knotted the contest at 2. And with the game still tied heading to the bottom of the ninth, Baltimore needed a rally to avoid going to extras again.

Jackson Holliday got things started with a one-out double off flamethrowing right-hander Didier Fuentes, then moved to third on a warning-track flyout by Colton Cowser. That set the stage for Beavers, who had two previous walk-off hits in his two-year MLB career -- a single in a 2-1, 10-inning win vs. the Pirates last Sept. 10 and a homer in a 6-5 win vs. the Rays last Sept. 25.

Beavers was anticipating a first-pitch fastball from Fuentes, then connected with a 100.1 mph heater on the inner part of the strike zone. The 24-year-old outfielder’s knock went past a diving Albies at second base and into right field, allowing Holliday to score from third and for the rest of their teammates to join them in pandemonium on the infield dirt.

Many fans among the 37,883 in attendance cheered the Orioles’ fourth walk-off win of the year, but their first since May 30.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Beavers has needed the fewest number of games (86) to record three career walk-off hits in Orioles history (since 1954).

“Beavs is the man. You know you’re going to get a really good at-bat out of him, no matter what,” Holliday said. “He’s swinging the bat great.”

This was the second game in a row in which Beavers batted leadoff, but only the fourth time in his big league career. (Coincidentally, he was also in the top spot for his walk-off home run against Tampa Bay last Sept. 25.)

Baltimore has reshuffled its lineup a bit with catchers Adley Rutschman (left wrist inflammation) and Samuel Basallo (right shoulder inflammation) going on the injured list earlier this week, so the left-handed-hitting Beavers is getting a chance to lead off against right-handed starters.

Beavers, who is hitting .382 (13-for-34) over his past 12 games, has led off the bottom of the first inning with a single each of the past two nights.

“He has a slow heartbeat, manages the at-bat extremely well, fights off a lot of tough pitches, and he can hit,” manager Craig Albernaz said. “He has the ability to make contact, hit the ball to all fields, and he has some thump. He’s really settled in nicely right now for us.”

“He's definitely an important piece of this team,” said right-hander Brandon Young, who tossed 6 1/3 innings of one-run ball.

The Orioles will have an opportunity to win the series against the National League East leaders on Sunday afternoon. They’ll need to keep the momentum rolling, though, with important three-game sets at Detroit and against Philadelphia coming next week, prior to the Deadline.

“It’s time for us to bear down and win some games here. Obviously, we want to make a push for the playoffs and these games are really important,” Holliday said. “We unfortunately got to see what the other side of everything looks like last year, and I know I don’t want to experience that. I want to have a chance to play in the playoffs and a chance to win the World Series.”