Samuel Basallo’s bases-loaded single with no outs in the 11th inning drove in the winning run and the Baltimore Orioles topped the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates 3-2 on Tuesday night in the opener of a three-game series.
Jeremiah Jackson homered in the sixth inning for the Orioles. Dietrich Enns (3-2) pitched two shutout innings for the victory.
Pittsburgh’s Tommy Pham hit a tying home run in the ninth. Dauri Moreta (1-1) took the loss.
The Orioles (67-77) have won six of their last seven games, including Friday night against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Basallo’s walk-off homer. Pittsburgh (64-81) has lost four straight.
Leadoff batter Jackson Holliday joined Jackson with two hits in the first two spots in Baltimore’s batting order.
Baltimore starter Kyle Bradish, who underwent Tommy John surgery last year, worked seven strong innings and was in line for his first victory since June 8, 2024, before the Pirates scored in the ninth. In his third outing this season, Bradish struck out six and allowed one run on four hits and two walks.
Rico Garcia pitched the eighth for the Orioles before Pham drilled Yennier Cano’s seventh pitch of the ninth for a home run.
After Cano retired the next two batters, Keegan Akin entered and promptly walked two batters before getting out of the jam with a strikeout of Cam Devanney.
Jackson’s fifth homer came off reliever Braxton Ashcraft to lead off the bottom of the sixth. That was the only hit allowed by Ashcraft in his first three innings until he encountered trouble when the first two batters of the eighth reached base. But Kyle Nicolas came in and prevented the Orioles from tacking on insurance runs.
Pittsburgh starter Mike Burrows worked four innings, giving up one run on two hits with one walk and six strikeouts.
Both teams scored in the first inning. Andrew McCutchen drove in Pittsburgh’s run with a two-out single after Spencer Horwitz doubled, and Baltimore matched that with Ryan Mountcastle’s sacrifice fly.
The Pirates have scored a total of seven runs in their last four games combined.
