Olson, Hernández lead Braves to 10-inning win over O's as 2nd-half surge continues

BALTIMORE -- Matt Olson’s 27th home run of the season will surely rank among his biggest, striking the decisive blow in one of the Braves’ most complete wins of the season.

Olson connected for a three-run drive in the 10th inning off Andrew Kittredge, and the Braves rallied from behind twice to a 7-6 victory over the Orioles on Friday night to open their first road series of the second half.

“We've had some good, tight wins,” Olson said of his NL East-leading club. “But that's obviously a great one.”

Elieser Hernández pitched three key innings of relief and worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the ninth inning in his first MLB appearance since 2024, and his first win since August 2022. The Braves selected his contract from Triple-A Gwinnett on Sunday.

“He was a hero tonight,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said of Hernández.

Drake Baldwin’s solo home run off Rico Garcia’s changeup tied it 3-3 in the eighth inning. Before that, Mauricio Dubón’s sac fly and Austin Riley’s first single evened things at 2 in the fourth against otherwise impeccable O’s lefty Trevor Rogers.

And while the Braves bats searched for the big blow, their gloves made several fine plays to stay in it.

Center fielder Michael Harris II’s warning-track grab robbed Pete Alonso of extra bases in the third. Starter Grant Holmes escaped the fifth when shortstop Jorge Mateo made an exceptional backhanded stop and throw against his former team to retire Taylor Ward. And in the sixth, Dubón laid out to prevent Chadwick Tromp’s flare from dropping in for a single that would’ve plated at least one Baltimore insurance run.

“We played well and you’ve got to play well to beat teams in this league,” Weiss said. “There are some good things happening right now. It's well documented, the tough June we had, but after the break, we've really turned it around and we're playing well in pretty much all phases.”

Olson’s Statcast-projected 416-foot shot to right-center put the exclamation point on Atlanta’s sixth win out of eight since the All-Star break, after Jim Jarvis’ fielder’s choice plated the automatic runner to put the Braves in front.

It was Olson’s seventh homer in July, and his second since returning from his fourth All-Star appearance, the other coming in a 15-1 rout of the Rangers in the first game back.

“I was able to get a pitch up,” Olson said of Kittredge’s 1-2 four-seamer in the upper half of the zone. “Kittredge has been around for a while, good stuff, good pitcher. Obviously made some good pitches to [Baldwin] and [Ozzie Albies] before me, and like I said, I was able to just get one up and put a good swing.”

Those runs proved crucial after Dylan Lee allowed three runs in the bottom of the 10th, two on Christian Encarnacion-Strand’s opposite-field shot with two retired, before striking out Sam Huff to seal it.

Weiss said Lee was his last available reliever after Hernández entered to begin the seventh with Atlanta still trailing.

The 31-year-old former Miami Marlin allowed a hit and three walks. The last of those was an intentional pass in the ninth to Gunnar Henderson as he opted instead to face the right-handed Ward, who grounded to third to leave the bases loaded.

“Just stay attacking and aggressive,” Hernández said of his mindset via an interpreter. “I looked at it as, you know, ‘This is mine,’ and I couldn't give it away.”