Orioles draw 11 walks, stun Blue Jays with ninth-inning rally

Trey Yesavage had never had to work as hard in a big league start as he did Saturday.

Yesavage had never walked more than three batters in a game before the Orioles drew seven free passes against one of the game’s budding stars Saturday. Over five innings, he threw just 48 strikes, a season low.

The O’s patient approach produced only one run against Yesavage, but it paid off in a magical ninth inning that ended in a Pete Alonso walk-off single and a miraculous 6-5 win.

After dropping the first two games of their series against the Blue Jays, and looking lifeless for eight innings of Saturday’s game, the O’s woke up to deliver the third walk-off of the homestand.

Facing almost-Oriole Jeff Hoffman in a 5-1 game, the O’s strung together hits for the first time all afternoon. After Coby Mayo was hit by a pitch, Leody Taveras tripled him in, then scored on a Jackson Holliday single. Colton Cowser doubled, followed by consecutive walks to Taylor Ward and Gunnar Henderson.

Connor Seabold replaced Hoffman but couldn’t stop the issuance of free passes. He walked Adley Rutschman to force in the game-tying run.

That kept the bases loaded for Alonso, who smacked a single past the drawn-in infield to bring home Ward and cap a five-run comeback.

“We don’t waver,” manager Craig Albernaz said. “Like the guys in the clubhouse, they’re outstanding, they don’t waver. But also, to say that in the dugout and then go out there and be really disciplined in the box, especially when the crowd’s going nuts and everyone wants to be the hero, being able to be selfless, take your walk and pass it to the next guy, that was fun to watch.”

Baltimore’s patience at the plate also led to its first run of the game. Walks by Jeremiah Jackson and Ward in the third inning set up a Henderson RBI single.

That was the O’s only hit with runners in scoring position until the ninth. Entering the final frame, they were 1-for-7 with runners on, leaving six on base.

“Obviously, Yesavage, he didn’t have his best command, but you also can tell how gross his stuff is,” Albernaz said.

“Our guys did a great job of laying off tough ones but had a tough time against him with guys in scoring position.”

Baltimore finished with 11 walks, its highest total in a game since 2005.

The Orioles’ hitting approach has drawn criticism from fans at times, but their ability to draw walks has been unassailable. Baltimore entered the game having walked in 9.9% of its plate appearances, eighth highest in MLB.

“Zone discipline was on point today from the whole lineup,” Alonso said. “And again, for me personally, I had a couple opportunities early, I think my first and second at-bat, to drive some guys in and didn’t get the job done. I was just kind of hoping and praying I would have an opportunity later on in the game. I’m just so, so proud of the way that we fought and the way that we executed down the stretch in the ninth.”

Though he didn’t get the win, Brandon Young continued his run of solid starts. One of the best surprises of the season, Young struck out a career-high seven batters across 6 2/3 innings. He allowed two earned runs and lowered his ERA to 3.35.

“It felt good, felt better than I did last start, just continuing to attack the strike zone, get ahead,” Young said. “That’s the main goal, to get deep in the game. That’s the goal for us to give our team a chance to win.”

Baltimore’s bullpen didn’t do much to pick him up, however.

One day after blowing a late lead in a gut-wrenching 6-5 loss, the relief corps allowed a close game to come dangerously close to slipping away.

Anthony Nunez, the 24-year-old rookie who has become one of the O’s high-leverage relievers, allowed two runners to reach in the eighth inning. Keegan Akin, mired in the worst season of his career, let both score on a Kazuma Okamoto double.

Albert Suárez gave up a run in the top of the ninth to push the deficit to 5-1.

This is a bullpen operating without its $28 million closer. Ryan Helsley, who has been out with right elbow inflammation since the beginning of May, threw a bullpen session Saturday, according to Albernaz.

Saturday’s win, by the same score as Friday’s game, will help erase the frustration of back-to-back one-run losses against a division foe.

“I feel like we kind of just flip-flopped,” Alonso said. “Last night, we had a pretty good commanding lead and then they took it from us. And then same thing happened but the other way. So I feel like last night we should have won, and then, today, they should have won. So I feel like baseball has a funny way of kind of evening out, so to speak.”

This article has been updated.