– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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BALTIMORE — It took beyond the regulation nine innings, but Matt Olson finally was freed from the daunting task of facing the one man on the mound who has had his number more than anyone else during his big league career, then took advantage of the clean slate with one of his biggest swings of the season.
Olson cracked a three-run home run to cap a four-run 10th inning as Atlanta came from behind to defeat the Baltimore Orioles 7-6 inside Oriole Park at Camden Yards to begin a three-game series. Drake Baldwin hit a tie-breaking solo homer in the eighth inning to force extra innings.
Atlanta was down 3-2 after seven innings after Orioles Starter Trevor Rogers continued his stellar form on the mound, allowing just two runs and six hits. One of those hits the lefty starter allowed was to Olson, who came into the game 1-for-16 with nine strikeouts in his career against Rogers. Despite the single in the sixth, Olson struck out the other two at-bats against Rogers, who left with the lead after Christian Encarnacion-Strand’s two-run double in the second and Jackson Holliday’s sacrifice fly in the fourth put Baltimore ahead.
Baldwin, last year’s National League Rookie of the Year, golfed a ball over the right field wall against Orioles reliever Rico Garcia with one out in the eighth to tie the score. After hitting 19 home runs in 2025, Baldwin’s round-tripper tonight was his 20th of this campaign.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Friday evening’s game, with photos taken by staff photographer Timothy Rice. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page. Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are 25 pictures in total.
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