Down to last out, O's turn 5-hour delay into walk-off win

BALTIMORE -- For five hours, the rain fell steadily at Camden Yards. The white tarp on the field wasn’t touched all afternoon. The seats were empty. The most hardcore fans stuck through it all, eating up time on the concourse -- either by walking laps, sitting or even laying on the ground.

Meanwhile, players on the Royals and Orioles waited in their respective clubhouses. Nobody wanted to get ready too early, but they kept their eyes on the weather forecast and knew it was still likely that Wednesday’s series finale would be played, albeit much later than first anticipated.

“A lot of guys slow-played their prep, tried not to get too hot too early,” O’s catcher James McCann said. “Because once you’re hot, you want to stay hot. So a lot of guys just hung out and slowly built up. We kind of knew what the radar was showing, that the window wasn’t going to be until this evening.”

A 1:05 p.m. ET start was pushed back to 6:05, and Baltimore’s bats started as cold as the frigid temperature at first pitch (46 degrees Fahrenheit). But as the defending American League East champion Orioles typically do these days, they found a way to win.

Down to their final out, the O’s recorded their second walk-off victory in three nights when McCann delivered a bases-loaded, two-run single off Kansas City closer Will Smith to lift Baltimore to a 4-3 victory. It’s the fourth time in team history (since 1954) that the Orioles have recorded a pair of walk-off wins within the first six games of a season (also in 2003, ’01 and 1964).

Baltimore had no runs and only one hit through seven innings, with Adley Rutschman’s one-out double in the fourth marking its lone knock to that point. Royals left-hander Cole Ragans was dominant while striking out seven over 6 1/3 frames.

“That’s what’s special about this team and this offense,” McCann said, “is despite being down three runs and despite [Ragans] having a quality start, we found a way to claw back in off their bullpen.”

It wasn’t easy for the Orioles to come back from a 3-0 deficit, especially as the temperature kept dropping and rain showers continued to pass through the area.

But Baltimore’s bats battled against Kansas City’s bullpen, and the O’s scored a pair of runs in the eighth on a Gunnar Henderson sac fly and a Rutschman RBI single. After All-Star right-hander Yennier Cano pitched a 1-2-3 top of the ninth, the momentum had shifted in the Orioles’ favor.

Several hundred fans remained, packed into the best sections in the house as the ballpark instituted an open-seating policy for the night. Everybody wanted to see another thrilling O’s win.

“You could hear them,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “That’s a tough day to watch baseball. Had to have been a little bit uncomfortable. It was cold. I think we’re all a little red-faced and chapped right now. So for those people to stick around, those are true Orioles fans.”

They were rewarded, too. Smith entered the game, then immediately walked Ryan Mountcastle and gave up a single to Anthony Santander. Baltimore was in business.

Still, it came down to McCann, who stepped up to the plate with the bases full, two outs and the game on the line. The 33-year-old backup catcher has been a clubhouse leader since joining the team prior to the 2023 season. But he doesn’t own the biggest bat in the lineup, having hit .222 with a .646 OPS over 69 games last year.

McCann took two balls from Smith, then got the pitch he wanted -- an 89.8 mph four-seam fastball left over the plate. McCann connected with the pitch and clubbed it to left field at an exit velocity of 110.5 mph (per Statcast), while Mountcastle and Cedric Mullins both came around to score.

It marked the fourth walk-off plate appearance of McCann’s 11-year big league career, and his first since a game-winning fielder’s choice for the Mets on Sept. 28, 2021.

“The big thing right there is there’s as much pressure on the pitcher as there is on the hitter,” said McCann, who went 2-for-4 to improve to 4-for-8 on the young season. “So I’m just trying to make him come to me.”

Baltimore had 48 comeback wins last season (tied with Cincinnati for the most in MLB) en route to a 101-61 record. This year, it already has three through six games.

The Orioles aren’t satisfied with how they’ve played so far, especially with the inconsistency from their offense (24 runs over the first two games, then 12 over the next four). Yet, they took two of three from both the Angels and the Royals on their season-opening homestand.

“You ask anybody in here, we haven’t played our best baseball yet. So to come away 4-2 and two series wins, I think that just tells what this team’s about,” said right-hander Corbin Burnes, who allowed two runs in 5 2/3 innings. “Never going to give up until the last out. A lot of good baseball ahead of us -- and a lot more better baseball ahead of us.”