Orioles Survive Torkelson's 391-Foot Gut-Punch, Win in 12
Baltimore came back from seven down, blew a two-run lead in extra innings, and still walked out of Detroit with a 10-9 win on July 29. Spencer Torkelson's two-run homer in the 11th swung the win probability from 19% to 79% in Detroit's favor — and Baltimore answered anyway.
Detroit looked like it had this one locked by the sixth. Javier Báez was the engine early, singling home runs in the third and fifth innings to push the Tigers to a 5-0 lead, with a throwing error by Baltimore's first baseman adding an extra gift run in the third. Zach McKinstry's two-run double to right in the sixth made it 7-0, and Tarik Skubal was dealing — 6.2 innings, 4 hits, 3 earned runs, 6 strikeouts. Trevor Rogers, meanwhile, was getting carved up for 8 hits and 4 earned runs over 6 innings. On paper, this game was over.
Then the seventh happened. Baltimore strung together three consecutive run-scoring singles — Taveras to center, Jackson Holliday to right, Taylor Ward to right — and suddenly it was 7-5. Coby Mayo tripled home two more in the eighth to tie it at 7. The Orioles had erased a seven-run deficit, and what looked like a comfortable Detroit win had turned into a genuine fight. Tyler Wells came on for Baltimore and threw 2 scoreless innings, holding the line while the game stretched into extras.
The 11th inning is where this game earned its recap. Baltimore pushed ahead 9-7 on a sacrifice fly and a Holliday single to left — Mayo scoring both times. Detroit was down to its last three outs with a 19% win probability. Then Torkelson stepped in and launched a 391-foot two-run shot to left, Valencia scoring ahead of him, and just like that the win probability flipped to 79% for Detroit. The ballpark had to be electric. It looked like the comeback story had been stolen right back. But Baltimore wasn't done — in the 12th, a single to center scored Ward, and the Orioles escaped with a 10-9 final. Jackson Holliday finished 2-for-3 with 3 RBI, Coby Mayo went 2-for-3 with 2 RBI and scored twice, and Torkelson's heroics — 2-for-5, a homer, 2 RBI — ultimately weren't enough. This was a genuinely chaotic game, and the story of the night was Baltimore's refusal to let Detroit have it.