PITTSBURGH (AP) — Baltimore Orioles shortstop Gunnar Henderson made a diving stop near second base on Edward Oliveras’ grounder in a try for a game-ending double play, then threw wildly past first for an error as two runs scored and gave the Pittsburgh Pirates a 3-2 victory on Sunday.
With the wild win, the Pirates improved to 8-2 for the first time since 2018.
“I usually make that play 99 times out of 100, and it just so happens that the throw got away from me right there,” Henderson said. “That was pretty unfortunate.”
Baltimore led 2-1 when the Pirates loaded the bases on Yennier Cano (1-1) on singles by Ke’Bryan Hayes and Jack Suwinski followed by Connor Joe’s walk.
Rowdy Tellez hit a soft grounder to first baseman Ryan Mountcastle, and umpire Dan Iassogna ruled Hayes beat his throw home only for the call to be changed to a forceout in a video review.
Oliveras hit a sharp grounder to the up the middle that Henderson gloved with a spectacular dive, and his momentum carried him into second. He tagged the base with his glove as Tellez went into the base standing up, and Henderson hooked his throw around the runner and to the outfield side of Mountcastle as Suwinski and Joe scored.
“You can’t blame Gunnar,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said. “Not many people get to that ball.”
Pirates manager Derek Shelton was just happy to piece together a rally against Cano, who was an All-Star last season as a rookie.
“Cano’s an elite back-end guy, and the at-bats we had — Connor Joe’s at-bat to walk, (Suwinski) good swing, (Hayes) hits a bullet to start the inning. Overall, this was a good baseball game.”
Jose Hernandez (1-0) allowed one hit in 1 1/3 innings for the Pirates, who took two of the three in the series and had back-to-back walk-off wins over the same opponent for the first time since Aug. 3 and 4, 2022, against Milwaukee. Oneil Cruz hit a winning 11th-inning single on Saturday.
“It is beautiful, the results the last couple days,” Olivares said. “It’s an example of the team playing together and playing good baseball.”
Mountcastle doubled twice and had three hits. He had an RBI double in the fourth and scored on Anthony Santander’s single.
Orioles starter Dean Kremer allowed an unearned run and five hits in seven innings with six strikeouts and no walks. Pittsburgh’s Marco Gonzales gave up two runs and five hits in six innings.
Henry Davis had a sacrifice fly in the fifth after Kremer made a throwing error on a potential inning-ending double-play grounder by Jared Triolo.
Baltimore used the same batting order in consecutive games for the first time since last June 20-23.
Pittsburgh acquired minor league left-hander Connor Oliver from Kansas City for right-hander Colin Selby, who was designated for assignment on April 2.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Orioles: RHP John Means (left forearm strain) made his second rehab start for Triple-A Norfolk on Saturday night and allowed one run and one hit in three innings.
Pirates: LHP Ryan Borucki (left triceps inflammation) was placed on the 15-day IL and Hernandez was recalled from Triple-A Indianapolis.
UP NEXT
Orioles: Open a three-game series at Fenway Park on Tuesday with RHP Corbin Burnes (1-0, 2.31) scheduled to start against RHP Brayan Bello (1-0, 5.40) in Boston’s home opener.
Pirates: RHP Mitch Keller (0-1, 6.55) starts Monday night in the opener of a two-game home series against Detroit, which starts RHP Reese Olson (0-0, 0.00).
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