NEW YORK -- Mark Trumbo broke out of his slump in a big way on Friday night, blasting a sixth-inning grand slam in the Orioles' 14-11, 10-inning loss to the Yankees.
"Felt good to contribute," said Trumbo, who had just one homer this year and was batting .190. "Wasn't enough, but hopefully that can be a nice way to get things moving in a better direction."
Grand slams mean 40% off pizza
Re-signed as a free agent this winter after leading the Majors with 47 homers, Trumbo played the Opening Day hero role with a home run. But his power went into hiding after that, and the typically stoic hitter was visibly frustrated on the club's recent homestand.
"I was seeing the ball pretty well," Trumbo said of having some better at-bats leading up to Friday. "Results weren't there, but any time I'm getting a good look at it and taking some close pitches, that's a good sign."
It all came together off Yankees reliever Bryan Mitchell, with Trumbo depositing his 1-1 pitch 459 feet with an exit velocity of 115.7 mph, per Statcast™. The homer was the fifth-longest in the Majors this season and the hardest-hit homer by an Oriole in the Statcast™ Era (since 2015). Trumbo ended the night 3-for-6 to raise his average to .212.
"We swung the bats well," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. "Some good things happened tonight for us with Trum and Manny [Machado] kind of getting back to their level. That's good to see, and I'll dwell on that tonight."