LOS ANGELES -- The Dodgers are the two-time defending World Series champions. Dodger Stadium features a raucous environment, as the ballpark is routinely filled with 50,000-plus fans. It’s a tough test for any team to play Los Angeles, but especially at Chavez Ravine.
This weekend, the Orioles met the challenge.
After a heartbreaking loss on Friday night, Baltimore bounced back and won both Saturday night and Sunday afternoon, capping its series win over L.A. with a 12-1 victory. Colton Cowser led the way in the finale, recording four RBIs and a season-high three hits, including one of the Orioles’ four home runs on the day.
“They have a lot of great players over there, well-managed and coached, and it's tough to play in Dodger Stadium, and our boys did a great job of coming out and competing,” manager Craig Albernaz said. “That's what we can show. We can show that we can play with anyone. Now the real task is being consistent.”
The O’s (37-42) -- who have yet to win more than three consecutive games this season -- are 3-3 so far on their West Coast road trip after previously dropping two of three in Seattle. They’ll now make the short commute to Anaheim to open a three-game set vs. the Angels on Monday night.
If Ryan Helsley hadn’t given up three runs in a messy bottom of the ninth on Friday (resulting in a 6-5 walk-off win for the Dodgers), the Orioles would have taken all three games at Dodger Stadium. On Saturday, they held on for a 3-2 victory, though Los Angeles plated both its runs in the ninth and had the potential tying run on third base when the contest ended.
Sunday, however, was not a nail-biter. It was instead the O’s being in complete control.
“It’s nice, but also needed, for sure,” first baseman Pete Alonso said. “I think it shows a lot of this team’s character, but also the team’s ceiling. Because for us, the way that we played not just these two days, but Game 1, where if we played cleaner baseball that ninth inning, we could be walking out of here with a sweep.
“To be able to play that well here, a tough place to play, obviously. It’s one of the better teams in the world, and to play that well, that should give us a lot of confidence and knowing what our potential can be.”
Baltimore scored in each of the first four innings and built a 6-1 lead by the fourth. Taylor Ward hit a solo homer in the second and Cowser followed with a solo shot in the third.
Cowser added a left-on-left, two-run single off Jack Dreyer in the fourth. The 26-year-old outfielder is only 3-for-16 (.188) against southpaws this season, but he has a hit in each of his past two plate appearances against them, as he also singled against Dreyer on Friday.
The O’s turned it into a blowout with a four-run seventh. Blaze Alexander and Jeremiah Jackson hit back-to-back one-out doubles, and later in the inning, Alonso clubbed a three-run home run to right-center field, his team-high 18th homer of the year. It also marked a career-high-tying 10th opposite-field home run for the 31-year-old, who also had 10 for the Mets in 2025.
Alexander then pushed Baltimore’s lead to 12-1 with a two-run home run in the eighth, his third hit of the afternoon.
“A really good day from us at the plate,” Cowser said. “I felt like we made them work from the start there, and yeah, couldn’t have asked for a better day for us.”
Orioles starter Brandon Young continued his recent run of success with five innings of one-run ball. The 27-year-old right-hander has a 2.15 ERA over his past six starts and a 3.07 ERA in 12 outings this season. The O’s also improved to 10-2 in games started by Young.
The offensive outburst made it easy for Young -- as well as left-handers Grant Wolfram and Keegan Akin, who each tossed two scoreless innings -- to be aggressive and attack the Dodgers.
“It’s nice to beat some [butt] sometimes, honestly,” Young said of the club’s most lopsided win of the season.
Though Baltimore continues to be inconsistent, the American League standings have remained so congested that the O’s are still only two games out of a playoff position. If they can get hot, they could quickly move up the board.
Every time the Orioles have started to play better, they’ve had some setbacks. Could this series win over the Dodgers be the launching point for improved results?
Alonso believes so.
“Honestly, I just think it’s the nature of the point of the season, because we’re kind of creeping up on the halfway point here,” Alonso said. “For us, now’s the time. This has to be the time.”