BALTIMORE -- Once Craig Albernaz was hit in the face by a fifth-inning foul ball in the first-base dugout on Monday night, it felt possible the Orioles could rally around their manager and orchestrate a comeback win, despite facing a six-run deficit at the time.
Albernaz may have been feeling pain in the right cheek (which later had a visible red mark), but the skipper surely still enjoyed watching what transpired from there.
After Jeremiah Jackson hit a key grand slam during a five-run sixth, Pete Alonso belted a go-ahead two-run home run in the seventh to help lift Baltimore to a series-opening 9-7 win over Arizona at Camden Yards. It was Alonso’s second homer of his 16-game O’s career.
Alonso had been slumping recently, as the 31-year-old slugger was 2-for-31 (.065) over an eight-game stretch entering Sunday. But the Polar Bear is beginning to heat up, as he went 2-for-4 with a two-run double in Sunday’s 6-2 win over the Giants, then went 2-for-3 with a double and a homer on Monday.
Jackson’s slam was the first of his 62-game MLB career. And if that wasn’t enough, the 26-year-old also achieved his first multihomer game, as he opened the bottom of the eighth inning by going deep to give the Orioles an insurance run.