The Baltimore Orioles reached new heights this season with a late-inning comeback on Monday to begin the series against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The Orioles will see if they can develop a trend or if it was merely a blip of good fortune when the teams meet again Tuesday night in Baltimore.
It will be up to Arizona veteran right-hander Merrill Kelly to try to tame the Baltimore bats in his first outing of the season.
Kelly has been out with a back ailment since spring training after he had been named as the starter for Opening Day. Instead, he threw a total of 157 pitches across two “outings” this month — one for Triple-A Reno and another in extended spring training.
“I want to be back with the team, help the team,” Kelly said.
Kelly, who had never visited to Camden Yards before this week, is set to pitch at the only ballpark where he hasn’t appeared in the major leagues.
Kelly (12-9, 3.52 ERA in 2025 with Arizona and Texas) is projected to be one of the Diamondbacks’ workhorses staff if he is healthy. He returned to Arizona via free agency in the offseason after he was traded to the Rangers at the 2025 trade deadline. He is 1-1 with 9.72 ERA in two career starts vs. Baltimore.
Baltimore posted a season-high run total on Monday in a 9-7 comeback victory, wiping out a six-run deficit in the process.
“We got to be better, that’s really what it comes down to … and find a way to close out a 7-1 game,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said.
It’s unclear if first-year Orioles manager Craig Albernaz will be in the dugout for the Tuesday night game. He left the Monday contest briefly after he was hit in the face by foul ball off the bat of Baltimore’s Jeremiah Jackson, though he showed up back in the dugout.
Bench coach Donnie Ecker handled Albernaz’s normal postgame media duties following the game as the manager was getting scans as a precaution. He was glad the players were able to respond from the deficit and Albernaz’s temporary absence.
“He’s doing good,” Ecker said. “… We sit there every game and we’re all kind of vulnerable to it. … Everyone feels for him.”
Jackson, an 26-year-old second baseman, hit two home runs on Monday, a sixth-inning grand slam and an eighth-inning solo shot. It was his first career multi-homer game, and the five RBIs were also a career best.
“You got to make up for it somehow,” Jackson said regarding his wayward foul ball. “I’m just happy (Albernaz) is OK.”
The comeback gave the Orioles six victories in their past seven games.
“That’s why we play nine innings,” Jackson said. “It’s a good team win. We handled adversity well.”
Now Baltimore will turn to Trevor Rogers (2-0, 1.89 ERA) for his fourth start of the season. The left-hander has worked at least six innings in every start, and Baltimore has won in all three games that he has pitched.
Rogers is 2-1 with a 3.86 ERA in three all-time outings vs. Arizona.
Before the Monday game, the Orioles called up infielder Weston Wilson and placed first baseman/designated hitter Ryan Mountcastle on the 60-day injured list due to a broken left foot. Baltimore also acquired infielder Christian Encarnacion-Strand from the Cincinnati Reds in a cash transaction, then optioned him to Triple-A Norfolk.
The Diamondbacks have scored seven runs in three of their past six games, going 4-2 in that span.
–Field Level Media
