Alonso remains upbeat as bat, O's begin to heat up

BALTIMORE -- Coming off Monday’s off-day, Pete Alonso walked into the Orioles’ clubhouse at Camden Yards on Tuesday afternoon with a fresh haircut and the same positivity he’s brought every day since the beginning of Spring Training. The Polar Bear wasn’t feeling concerned about the club’s uneven start, the 13-15 record or even the tough back-to-back losses vs. Boston.

“It’s just one of those things where it’s still early,” Alonso said. “If we do what we’re supposed to do, if we end up a game above .500, or right at .500, at the end of the month -- obviously, not a perfect start, but honestly, it could be a lot worse.

“There have been some great moments we’ve had, I think, to kind of set ourselves up. It’s a long season. We’ve done a good job of minimizing the tough times. So we’re looking for a nice little bounceback. Not just today, but this whole series [this week vs. Houston].”

It’s important to remember it’s still early for Alonso, too -- not just this season, but in the five-year, $155 million contract he signed on Dec. 11. Eventually, the 31-year-old slugger should get his bat going, as his illustrious track record would suggest.

Tuesday night was an encouraging step forward for both Alonso and the O’s.

Alonso muscled a two-run home run to right-center field in the fifth inning (his fourth homer of 2026) to help lift the Orioles to a 5-3 victory in the opener against the Astros. Adley Rutschman (two RBI singles) and Samuel Basallo each drove in a run in the first to back right-hander Shane Baz, who tossed 5 2/3 innings of one-run ball to earn his first win in six starts for Baltimore.

There have been signs of an imminent breakout for Alonso, who is hitting .198 with a .659 OPS through his first 29 games with the O’s. He was drawing a lot of walks in the middle of the month (eight over six games from April 10-15), and he’s been making plenty of loud contact. (His 56% hard-hit rate entering Tuesday ranked in the 95th percentile of MLB.)

Even when Alonso hasn’t been hitting, he’s been playing tremendously at first base. His defense has been some of the best of his eight-year big league career -- as he showed again Tuesday, when his nice diving stop to rob Yordan Alvarez of a hit ended the top of the fifth.

“His defense right now has been better than advertised. It’s been elite for us at first base,” manager Craig Albernaz said. “So, it’s just on the offensive side of the ball, and he’s close. You can see it in the box, you can see it in his work. So I think once he kind of gets in that groove, I think it’s going to be dangerous.”