Colton Cowser hit his 21st and 22nd home runs, while James McCann added his sixth and seventh, leading the Orioles to a 7-1 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Friday night.
Baltimore stayed four games behind the AL East-leading New York Yankees and opened a four-game lead over Kansas City for the top AL wild card spot. The Tigers dropped one game behind Minnesota for the final AL wild card position.
Anthony Santander also contributed with his 43rd homer, which was his second in two games, off Tigers opener Tyler Holton (7-2). This win marked the Orioles’ consecutive victories for the first time in more than two weeks.
“We’ve played good baseball the last two days,” said Corbin Burnes (15-8), who pitched seven scoreless innings against Detroit for the second straight game.
“So now it’s just about keeping it going and playing our baseball, and not worrying about what’s going on (elsewhere).”
Burnes struck out eight, and allowed three hits and three walks, lowering his ERA to 2.95 as the Orioles began a three-game series against one of baseball’s hottest teams. The Tigers had won their last four games and nine of their last 11 before Friday.
Keider Montero struck out seven but gave up the Orioles’ final four homers over five innings of relief for the Tigers.
“I told him on the mound, ‘Keep your head high. You’re going to get the ball again in five or six days and you’re going to help us win,’” said Detroit manager A.J. Hinch.
Trey Sweeney had a late RBI single for Detroit.
McCann’s second homer landed in the Baltimore bullpen, where reliever Cionel Perez caught it with his cap—marking his sixth time doing so this season. This game was the first for Baltimore with multiple players hitting multiple homers since June 2021 and brought their season total to 224.
