Rookie Samuel Basallo smacked a three-run home run in the first inning and Adley Rutschman drilled a two-run double during a five-run fourth to help the Baltimore Orioles defeat the host Cincinnati Reds 8-5 on Saturday night.
Pete Alonso provided three hits and an RBI as the Orioles, who won their third in a row, bounced back after falling behind during Cincinnati’s three-run second.
Baltimore starter Brandon Young worked through five-plus innings, surrendering four runs on eight hits and three walks while striking out five. Young (7-2) is 4-1 in his last six starts.
Baltimore used four relievers to cover the final four innings, capped by Tyler Wells picking up his second save by working the ninth.
Jose Trevino had three hits and an RBI and Elly De La Cruz added two hits and an RBI for Cincinnati, which lost for the sixth time in its last seven. The Reds outhit Baltimore 11-10 but left nine runners on base.
Reds starter Hunter Greene (0-1), making his season debut coming off the injured list, was dinged for eight runs on seven hits with four walks in 3 1/3 innings. He struck out seven and tossed a wild pitch.
Basallo began the scoring with his two-out blast in the first, pushing his homer total to 14.
The Reds, who were blanked 3-0 in Friday night’s series opener, tied the score in the bottom of the inning on the first of two RBI singles by Eugenio Suarez.
Cincinnati grabbed the lead in the second on Jose Trevino’s double before TJ Friedl’s RBI triple and Elly De La Cruz’s run-scoring single.
The Orioles went ahead again on Blaze Alexander’s two-run single in the fourth before Rutschman’s double extended the lead. Rutschman scored on Pete Alonso’s two-out single. Baltimore had only two hits after the fourth inning.
Suarez’s two-out infield single in the seventh allowed the Reds to cut the margin to 8-5, but they stranded two runners on base.
