BALTIMORE -- Everybody should have known a big hit was coming for Jackson Holliday on Wednesday night. It was Bark at the Park at Camden Yards, and Holliday¡¯s 1-year-old bernedoodle, Coconut, was sitting with Holliday¡¯s wife, Chloe, in the stands.
Holliday loves Bark at the Park nights and seemingly always raked when the promotion occurred throughout his various stops in the Minor Leagues the previous three seasons.
¡°It¡¯s always fun,¡± Holliday said. ¡°I enjoy dogs. My family has a bunch of them.¡±
The young Hollidays bought Coconut in the spring of 2024, then named him after a street in Sarasota, Fla., where the Orioles hold Spring Training. Since then, he¡¯s been a good-luck charm for the 21-year-old infielder. Perhaps never more so than Coconut¡¯s latest trip to a ballpark, during which he wore his own Holliday No. 7 jersey.
With his pup -- and many others -- watching on from the seating bowl, Holliday slugged his second career grand slam in Baltimore¡¯s 9-1 victory over Cleveland. It was the former top prospect¡¯s seventh home run in 74 MLB games and his second of the season.
This one had to be dedicated to Coconut, right?
¡°Yeah, that¡¯s right. Just for Coconut,¡± Holliday said with a grin. ¡°Not the team, just Coconut.¡±
The team will take it, too, especially considering the O¡¯s early-season struggles. They needed a jolt following a disappointing 6-10 start, with nine of those losses featuring four or fewer runs scored by Baltimore.
Holliday gave the Orioles a 4-0 lead when he swatted his slam the opposite way to left-center field off Guardians right-hander Gavin Williams in the second inning. Not only did Holliday snap an 0-for-17 skid with the 396-foot, 103.7 mph blast, but he joined an exclusive group as well.
Holliday -- whose first big league home run last July 31 was a grand slam onto Eutaw Street -- became the third player in franchise history with two slams among his first seven homers, joining Fritzie Connally (1983) and Brian Roberts (2001-03).
¡°It¡¯s a beautiful thing when he¡¯s in the middle of the field, line drives,¡± manager Brandon Hyde said. ¡°That was a huge hit for us.¡±
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Holliday (21 years, 133 days old) is the youngest player in franchise history at the time of his second career grand slam, surpassing Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr., who was 22 years and 323 days old when he hit his second slam on July 13, 1983.
Ripken -- who is now part of the Orioles¡¯ ownership group -- fittingly was seated in the front row behind home plate on Wednesday, as he frequently is these days.
The timing of Holliday¡¯s slam was the most important factor to the O¡¯s.
¡°Can never complain about pitching with the lead,¡± said right-hander Dean Kremer, who settled in and tossed 5 1/3 innings of one-run ball for his best start of the season thus far.
It took a little while, but Baltimore¡¯s bats built upon Holliday¡¯s early momentum swing in the late innings. Ram¨®n Laureano hit his first Orioles home run in the seventh, then Ryan O¡¯Hearn also went deep during a four-run eighth that featured a two-run single by Heston Kjerstad.
¡°That was a huge point in the game when he hit that grand slam,¡± Kjerstad said. ¡°That¡¯s always good when somebody hits one for the team, just four runs on the board and all that, but just to start the game off that way just with how the offense has been going a little bit, we kind of needed that.¡±
Don¡¯t be surprised that Kjerstad -- who made a stellar sliding catch in the sixth -- joined Holliday in having big games. Kjerstad is a friend of Coconut¡¯s, as he often saw the dog when he and Holliday were in the Minors together.
In fact, Kjerstad joked about Coconut liking him more than Holliday, who noted salami-flavored treats are the key to the dog¡¯s heart.
Holliday and Kjerstad are having fun, but they¡¯re also integral pieces in the Orioles¡¯ lineup. If the club is going to get things going, it will likely need those two to build on these performances and play well throughout the season.
¡°We¡¯ve shown some signs of being a super awesome team and playing really well together and our offense really playing well, and we¡¯ve struggled at the same time,¡± Holliday said. ¡°I think we¡¯re fine. I don¡¯t think there¡¯s anything to worry about. I think we¡¯re hitting the ball hard, and I think it¡¯ll come.¡±
It did Wednesday on a big night for the O¡¯s, Holliday and, of course, Coconut.
¡°Big night for him,¡± Holliday said.