– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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BALTIMORE — Milwaukee Brewers All-Star Jackson Chourio has not found himself in a slump often during his first few years in the Major Leagues, but was in the throes of one heading into Friday night’s contest, and when he given the luxury of a 3-0 count early in the game, and the option of taking the next pitch or swinging away, there was almost no way that Chourio would give up the chance of possibly getting the best pitch to hit that he’s seen in about a week.
He made the most of his chance with that one swing. Consider his slump now over.
Chourio crushed a three-run home run to dead centerfield in the second inning as part of a three-hit night as Milwaukee eventually needed extra innings to defeat the Baltimore Orioles 6-1 in 10 inside Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Sal Frelick, who came into the game as a pinch-hitter in the eighth inning, singled home the game-winning run with one out in the 10th after the Orioles had scored two runs in the ninth to tie the score.
After a four-hit day last Friday against Cincinnati, which was his third consecutive game with at least three base hits, Chourio was just two for his next 21 at-bats before hitting.a single off Baltimore left-hander Cade Povich on the second pitch of the game. In the following inning, the eighth and ninth hitters reached base with two outs before Chourio worked the count to 3-0. Instead of taking a pitch, Chourio took a changeup almost 420 feet to centerfield to open the scoring.
The Orioles, clinging to scant Wild Card hopes, got back into the game with a three-run homer of their own, the 38th of the season by Pete Alonso to tie the game in the bottom of the third off Brewers starting pitcher Dustin May.
Both teams exchanged two-run frames in the ninth inning. A run-scoring double with one out by William Contreras and a two-out single by Christian Yelich broke a 3-3 tie, but the Orioles responded by getting the first two batters into scoring position to start the bottom half. Two consecutive sacrifice flies, from Samuel Basallo and Christian Encarnacion-Strand, tied the game and sent the contest into extras.
*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 23 pictures in total.
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