BALTIMORE -- Blaze Alexander was standing down the tunnel inside the Orioles’ first-base dugout at Camden Yards during the bottom of the eighth inning Friday night when he saw a ball flying like a missile down the right-field line.
The next thing Alexander could see from his vantage point was teammate Samuel Basallo slowly walking down the line. Then, the 21-year-old rookie took his bat, raised it above his head and heaved it toward the dugout in an emotionally charged and emphatic manner.
“Obviously, the crowd erupted,” Alexander said. “I was like, ‘All right, something sick happened.’”
Quite “sick” indeed.
Basallo stepped up as the hero by swatting a game-winning two-run home run in Baltimore’s series-opening 5-3 victory over Kansas City. The 373-foot, 105.9 mph blast, per Statcast, was a left-on-left shot off Matt Strahm that went over the right-field scoreboard and just stayed fair by tucking inside the foul pole.
After watching long enough to make sure it would stay fair, Basallo let all of his excitement out. He overhead-tossed his lumber, hopped a few times down the first-base line, unleashed a massive right-handed fist pump and began his trot around the bases, all with a huge smile on his face.
“I enjoy every home run that I hit to the maximum,” Basallo said via team interpreter Brandon Quinones. “I don’t do those reactions to inconvenience anyone or anything like that. I’m just really enjoying the game. I enjoy every homer that I hit. I’ve always been that way since I was a kid. I’m really just out there enjoying the moment with these guys, enjoying that we can go out there and have fun and get the win.”
Baseball is supposed to be fun, right? This was fun -- one of the game’s rising young stars coming through with a clutch home run, then celebrating it with his team.
“It’s important to remember that it’s a kids’ game. It’s important to go out there and have fun,” Basallo said. “It’s a game of failure. It’s a difficult game. But it is important to remember that you can go out there and you can have fun and enjoy yourself.”
That was also a reminder Basallo got from his father, Jairo Fernando Basallo, within the past two weeks.
There have been ups and downs for the youngster during the first half of his first full MLB season. Success hasn’t come quite as easily for Basallo -- a former top prospect who debuted in the big leagues last August -- as it did when the Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, native rapidly ascended the Minor Leagues.
When Basallo’s dad spent time in Baltimore during the O’s homestand from June 26-July 1, he reminded his son to have fun. Since then, Basallo has been playing with youthful energy -- and raking, as he has three homers in his past seven games to boost his season total to 15, which ranks third on the team.
Basallo has a lot of impressive tools. But his raw power has game-changing potential.
“He has that ability now. Everyone feels that in the dugout,” manager Craig Albernaz said. “He’s so young -- in age, but also in his big league career. And this year, what he’s been doing is awesome. The way he works, he has a good head on his shoulders, that’s why we’re extremely bullish on Sammy.”
Albernaz felt comfortable leaving Basallo at the plate during that crucial moment in the eighth, even with the left-handed Strahm on the mound. Entering Friday, the left-handed-hitting Basallo was hitting only .191 with one homer and a .461 OPS against southpaws this season.
“We trust Sammy in those at-bats,” Albernaz said. “We want Sammy to be that guy and be as close to matchup-proof as we can get him. There’s a lot of development there, and also, he’s shown that he can manage an at-bat against a lefty and also do damage.”
Basallo rewarded his manager’s confidence in him, despite getting into a 1-2 hole against Strahm. The lefty’s fifth pitch of the at-bat was a slider left up in the zone, and Basallo pounced.
“I know I haven’t been going too well against lefties lately, but just trying to put the bat on the ball there,” Basallo said. “Thankfully, that one went out.”
The Orioles (44-51) are trying to build positive momentum this weekend and carry it into next week’s All-Star break. If they get hot and go on a run in the second half, a big reason for it could be the play of Basallo, who is hitting .248 with a .770 OPS in 81 games.
But either way, the long-term future should be quite bright for Basallo, hence why Baltimore signed him to an eight-year, $67 million extension last August. There should be plenty of these types of heroic, fun moments for years to come.
“That’s the kind of player Sammy is,” Alexander said.