Orioles beat Royals in extras 7-5 behind clutch Basallo, Taveras grand slam

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The Orioles were desperate, perhaps as much as they’ve been all season.

Amid a trying road trip that had already seen them narrowly avoid a no-hitter and drop three of four against their first-year manager’s former team, the Orioles entered the ninth inning Monday in a collective 0-for-22 skid at the plate. Their star shortstop Gunnar Henderson then led off that inning by drawing a walk and getting thrown out as he took his lead at first base, the second time on the night the Kansas City Royals picked him off.

Frustration was evident in that third-base dugout. Henderson was beside himself. Then they found a way.

Samuel Basallo, down to the Orioles’ final strike, tied the game with an RBI single in the ninth for just their second hit of the game and put them ahead for good with their fourth on another run-scoring base knock in the 12th. Leody Taveras then cemented a 7-5 victory with a grand slam that sent a disgruntled Kauffman Stadium crowd to the parking lots.

Royals starter Seth Lugo dominated the Orioles with seven shutout innings, allowing only a Taylor Ward double in the first inning in the hit column with four walks and seven strikeouts. His outing was the defining performance of the game until closer Lucas Erceg blew the save in the ninth, and the Orioles (11-12) sent it to extra innings.

Extras might not have been needed if not for Henderson’s baserunning gaffes. Ward’s double went over the head of Royals center fielder Kyle Isbel and Henderson, with his speed, might have been able to score from first. He was then picked off again after drawing a leadoff walk in the ninth. Had he remained on base, Dylan Beavers’ run would’ve put the Orioles ahead in the final frame instead of tying the game up.

Starter Kyle Bradish navigated heavy traffic on the base paths and, with some help from Rico Garcia, kept finding ways to escape and keep them in the game. Royals right fielder Jac Caglianone tattooed a 437-foot solo home run off him in the fourth, but it could’ve been a whole lot worse as Kansas City loaded the bases three times in the first six innings.

Bradish, whose 10 hits allowed were his most in a game since 2022, wriggled his way out of bases-loaded jams in the first and third innings before Garcia took over with two men aboard in the sixth. Working around a walk to shortstop Bobby Witt Jr., Garcia put up another zero on the board to extend his Orioles record of 11 consecutive appearances to open the season without allowing a hit.

The offense just couldn’t provide them with any support until the ninth. Baltimore finally came alive after Henderson’s second pickoff, drawing a pair of walks to bring up Basallo with two outs. The Orioles’ 21-year-old catcher fell behind 0-2 to Erceg before flipping a challenge fastball over the heart of the plate to the opposite field.

After Ryan Helsley pitched a scoreless ninth, Baltimore and Kansas City traded zeros in the 10th. Anthony Nunez was in danger of giving up a walk-off hit in the frame when he issued a leadoff walk to second baseman Nick Lofton that put two men on with no outs, but a mound visit from manager Craig Albernaz and a baserunning mistake helped the Orioles keep the score tied.

Albernaz made the trip to the mound and brought the infield in for a pep talk. Caglianone then hit a flyball to left field that Taveras caught and threw in to Weston Wilson at third base. The ball got away from Wilson, and pinch runner Lane Thomas tried to take the extra 90 feet. Wilson recovered in time to flip the ball to Henderson for the unconventional 8-5-6 double play.

The Orioles took the lead for the first time all game in the 11th on an RBI single by Beavers — still just their third hit of the night to that point. But the Royals punched back on a run-scoring single by shortstop Witt in the bottom half of the frame.

It all set the stage for a top of the 12th that finally put some distance between the two teams on the scoreboard. Basallo came up clutch once again with his second RBI single, this one off right-hander Alex Lange, and the Orioles loaded the bases on a single by Jeremiah Jackson and walk by Wilson to bring up Taveras. The center fielder then took Lange deep to center field for his second home run of the season and first career grand slam.

Though Cameron Foster made things interesting in the bottom of the 12th by loading the bases and allowing a three-run double to Lofton, he shook off the rally and recorded three straight outs to end it.