Jackson Holliday, Orioles eye encore in finale vs. Jays

The Baltimore Orioles hope that Jackson Holliday can continue his recent success against the host Toronto Blue Jays on Thursday night in the decisive game of a three-game series.

The 20-year-old second baseman has four career major league home runs, all since being recalled from Triple-A Norfolk last week.

Three of the long balls came against the Blue Jays, including a grand slam in Baltimore on July 31 for the first homer of his career.

He hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the seventh inning on Wednesday in Baltimore’s 7-3 victory over Toronto.

Holliday has homered in three straight games, the youngest player in American League history to do so.

In seven games since his return to the majors, Holliday is batting .375 (9-for-24) with a double, four home runs and 10 RBIs. It’s a major improvement over the stats he compiled in his first big-league stint in April: .059 (2-for-34) with no extra-base hits and one RBI in 10 games.

“He’s got a nice swing and there’s a lot of things that work in that swing and he’s got a lot of confidence and he really can get on a fastball,” Baltimore manager Brandon Hyde said. “I just think we’re seeing the confidence growing honestly up here at this level. Little bit of success and all of a sudden you start feeling good in the batter’s box and he’s getting some huge hits.”

Anthony Santander also is on a roll for the Orioles. He hit two home runs and drove in three runs on Wednesday. His second homer was his 34th of the season, a career best.

Santander also made a leaping catch at the right field wall on a Vladimir Guerrero Jr. drive for the third out of the seventh inning with a runner at second base, preserving the Orioles’ 4-3 lead.

“That’s just what he’s been doing this year,” Hyde said. “He has just been playing unbelievable baseball on both sides. To make that type of play, he is just so locked in to win right now. When he comes to the ball park, it’s all about winning tonight’s game.”

Guerrero went 1-for-3 with a walk to extend his hitting streak to 19 games. He is 34-for-69 (.493) with 10 doubles, nine home runs and 18 RBIs during the streak.

Guerrero started at third base on Wednesday for the sixth time this season and committed two errors. He played 96 games there as a rookie in 2019 before he was moved to first base the next season. Guerrero is willing to play third, but manager John Schneider would not say if that plan would continue next season.

“We’ll see,” Schneider said. “We’ll talk about that with him as the offseason gets going. But, I think if we do it, it will probably be a little bit more consistent. It’s kind of how you build your team for next year depending on where he’s going to be.”

Toronto is scheduled to start Kevin Gausman (9-8, 4.56 ERA) on Thursday. The right-hander is 1-4 with a 5.35 ERA in six career starts against the Orioles, one of his former teams. He lost to Baltimore on June 3, when he gave up six runs on six hits in 6 1/3 innings.

Baltimore’s scheduled starter is right-hander Dean Kremer (4-8, 4.39). He is 3-3 with a 4.35 ERA in 10 career games (nine starts) against the Blue Jays. Kremer has not faced Toronto this season.

The Orioles made several transactions on Wednesday. They put right-handers Grayson Rodriguez (right lat/teres discomfort) and Jacob Webb (right elbow inflammation) and outfielder Heston Kjerstad (concussion) on the injured list. Right-hander Bryan Baker and left-hander Keegan Akin were recalled from Triple-A Norfolk.

They also signed infielder J.D. Davis to a minor league deal.

–Field Level Media