The Milkman Delivers Twice: Cowser’s Back-to-Back Walk-Off Madness

13 innings of pure chaos, three separate extra-inning rallies, and one historic swing. We break down the Orioles' wild 9-7 win over the Rays and Colton Cowser becoming the first O's player in 41 years to hit a walk-off home run on back-to-back days. #Birdland #baltimoreOrioles #MLBonX

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:30

It was so nice they decided to do it twice as the Baltimore Orioles for the second day in a row hit a walk-off home run to win a baseball game. Welcome in, ladies and gentlemen, to another episode of the Charm City Sports Podcast. Just a little over 24 hours ago, I'll be honest, is when I recorded the last episode recapping that Detroit Tigers series win for the O's and then previewed this upcoming series for the Tampa Bay Rays. It was a little bit before the first pitch. And some of you may not have listened to it until after the first pitch against the Tampa Bay Rays. We had a tough time getting that episode out. But I mentioned that I hoped that they walk off home run from Colton Cowser on Sunday in the first of the two of the doubleheader. Now they end up losing. It's tough to sweep a doubleheader, no doubt. So they end up losing the final game. But I said, you know, hopefully they take the momentum of just that series against Detroit. And I know Detroit is not Detroit and Tampa Bay could not be more polar opposites right now. You know, albeit Detroit's lineup ahead of the season, you would have expected to be putting up numbers similar to the Tampa Bay Rays. Not totally tearing the cover off the ball, but doing enough to get wins. Maybe not being 34 and 16 heading into the first game of the series yesterday against Baltimore, the Tampa Bay Rays, obviously now 34 and 17. But you still took two out of three from a Detroit Tigers team, and you had to take two out of three from them. You had to put that bad taste out of your mouth of the two previous series against the Washington Nationals and the sweep of the Tampa Bay Rays, and the O's did that. But I had hoped that maybe we could ride the momentum from the series win, from the walk-off homer by Colton Cowser into the series against Tampa Bay, with Kyle Bradish on the mound. And Bradish, whom I think may have pitched probably his second best game this season yesterday. Because the Yankees shutout win was the best. Yesterday was probably the most complete we have seen Kyle Bradish all season in terms of just not having to rely too much on just overpowering the opposition, just pitching and getting outs. And that's exactly what he did through six and matching the other team's best pitcher. Because inning by inning against Shane McClagan, and you know, the Orioles got him out in the sixth. And it was a tough day for the most part in the McClanahan start for the Orioles. I mean, a lot of one, two, three innings, uh, some real tough, some real tough, you know, moments there where you just are scratching your head saying, How in the world can you not get anyone on base? How can you not? And it is McClanahan, and he's been pitching wonderfully all year. But in the bottom of the sixth, he he lost himself. You know, he hit Gunnar, he walks Adley, he walks Adley in a six-pitch at bat. Great job by Adley Rutschman in that situation to put two on with one out, get into their bullpen, then Gunnar Henderson gets picked off, and then unfortunately Samuel Basal grounds out with runners at first and second, leaving everyone going, oh my goodness, you know, how could you how could you not get a run there? Jonathan Aranda just homered the inning prior. How could you not get one run? But in the top of the seventh, the Orioles bring in Grant Wolfram. He gives up a two-out double to Chandler Simpson, one of the fastest players in baseball. Then he gets Junior Camanero to strike out. Camanero, who's obviously known all season long, pretty much, for coming through for the rays. Thirteen homers, twenty-seven RBIs. Now the Orioles counter in this situation with bringing in the strong right hander Yunir Kano with two gone. So he's coming in to phase Camonero. Righty on righty. He gets him swinging on a 3-2 sinker, overpowers him at 96 miles per hour. He throws six pitches in that inning. So let's get back to that in a moment. Because we get to the bottom of the seventh, Leoni Taveras leads off with a walk, steals second, gets to third on the air on the pickoff attempt, and Blaze Alexander brings him home with the RBI single. Still nobody out. This is where after Jackson Holiday strikes out with one now with one away, Colton Kowser enters into the game. Pinch hitting for Tyler O'Neill. Unfortunately, Kowser would strike out, but Taylor Ward would pick him up with an RBI single as Blaise Alexander off the throwing error by Victor Mesa Jr. is able to come home and score all the way from first. I mean, that's just, you know, that is showcasing a lot of what Blaise Alexander can do. Taking an extra base, being aggressive, something that you heard Craig Albanaz say after the Tampa Bay race series that, you know, we weren't taking extra bases. We were not aggressive enough on the base paths. Well, Leody Tavares leads off the the inning with a walk, steals, and then, you know, obviously on the pick off attempt, using his speed, forcing the race to pay attention to him, he ends up being a threat. Blaze Alexander, a threat there, scores to make it two to one. And then we go to the top of the eighth after Gunnar Henderson grounds out. We go to the top of the eighth, the two to one lead. Now, Yunir Kano has been by far your most because of A experience and also B, just the body of work he's done, as ERA is a 1.40. And I was struggling because I thought to myself, was there something in terms of, shall we say, you know, I I guess load quote unquote management that they were looking to do here with Junior Cano? Like, is there some reason why he didn't want him to pitch longer than a third of an inning? I mean, I d hadn't really remembered seeing him. He's been pitching Cano about once every two days. And it's not like Cano's workload has been really high. And listen, he had a twelve appearances in April. He's had nine so far in May, okay. I mean, I there they seem to be really limiting him to pitching only about half the games you play in a month. At least that's the way it feels. And instead of trotting him out there, because again, he's been your most consistent reliever. And I know Aronda's a lefty, but you're bringing in a righty anyway, so that doesn't even you're pr telling me you don't care about that matchup. They bring in Anthony Nunez. And Anthony Nunez. You know, I great story with the beginning of the season and how dominant he was in April, to the tune of probably as much as I say Inner Cano now has been your most reliable right-handed pitcher. There was a time there where Anthony Nunez was looked at as, you know, and this was granted early, early in the season, so you take it with a grain of salt, but he was one of your most reliable arms out of the bullpen. Threw 14 games in March and April. He won 15 and a third innings, giving up four earned runs, 12 hits, pitching to a 2-3-5 ERA, 18 strikeouts, and then in the month of May and 9 3rd innings, he's given up 10 runs off 10 hits, two homers. He's got a 9.64 ERA, and you're in a one-run game against I mean, the class of Major League Baseball right now. I mean, in terms of the win-loss record, you know, obviously it's not the Dodgers. But you are really going to bring Nunez into this game and not leave Vinair Canoa in. He Nunez gets Aronda to fly out, gives up the double DeAndi Diaz, then he's able to get to third on the fielding error by Tavares. They pinch run Oliver Dunn. Now, that was interesting to pinch run there with a runner at third. Because, you know, you pinch run, you'd like to get some speed. It's kind of, you know, unless it was just, well, if a play happens, he's got a break to the plate. We want to have our fastest guy on there, but I don't know, I found it kind of interesting. And Richie Palacios comes through anyways with an RBI single and a right. Gets the final two outs of the inning, does Nunez, but the damage is done in your tie to two. Nothing happens in the bottom of the eighth, top nine, Rico Garcia comes in, and Rico Garcia pitched brilliantly. We'll get to the tenth in a minute. But he gives out a two-out single to Chandler Simpson. Remember, I said Chandler Simpson, the fastest man in baseball. I believe it's documented. He literally is. If not, he is the fastest man, he's one of. And Adley Rutchman makes one of the best throws you're ever going to see by a catcher. He puts it right, one on Jeremiah Jackson's glove, and two, he gets it to where all Jackson has to do is just catch the baseball. All he had to do was catch the baseball. It was right in Simpson's path, and he gunned him down. A terrific throw by Adley Rutschman. Bottom of the ninth we go. One, two, three for the O's. We go to the tenth. And Simpson starts off at second. Now they get Junior Camanero to ground out. And obviously, because of what a good ground out it was, I guess. Or what a poor ground out it was, rather, good for the Orioles. Simpson doesn't advance. So they intentionally now walk Jonathan Aronda, but unfortunately to only walk Dunn to load the bases. Rico Garcia has put himself in a bind here, to say the least. He gets Palacios to strike out, then he gets Cedric Mullins to line out sharply to Pete on a tremendous, tremendous play. I gotta say, by just in terms of baseball. Because when you look at where Mullins gets this ball, it I mean it looks like he's either gonna A, pull it sharply foul in real time, or B, it's going to the corner. And it ends up right in the glove of Pete Alonzo. Great reactionary job by Pete to rob his one-time former teammate, Cedric Mullins, and obviously the former Baltimore Oriol, who's making his, of course, return back to Camden Yards and Cedric Mullins. To the bottom of the tenth we go. And I mean, at this point, all you got to do is just get a hit, get it out. They got Jackson Holiday at second. Colton Cowser can't get the bunt down properly. Bunts it right back to the pitcher in Symor. They intentionally walk Taylor Ward to get to Gunnar Henderson. Now, in this situation, if I'm Gunnar Henderson and they're intentionally walking, I get it's lefty-lefty, but they're intentionally walking the hitter to get to me because they think I'm going to provide them with an out and help them out here, I'm livid. I might, dare I say, be over-aggressive in this situation. But at the very least, I'm doing everything I can to give a big you know what to Kevin Cash, the manager of the Tampa Bay Rays. And he starts him off with a good slider. Okay, he didn't go after the first pitch. Then he gets him to foul off a changeup, and then he gets him to strike out on a sweeper. That's well off the plate. It's 0-2, and you're flailing at an off-speed pitch that I think conventional baseball wisdom would tell you it's not going to be in the zone. I mean, all they needed to do was get a base hit there. They don't get it with Adley Rutschman, who grounds out to end the inning, and then you're just saying to yourself, Oh my god. Rico Garcia just pulled off a Houdini-esque appearance in the ninth and the tenth, throwing over 30 pitches, and you guys couldn't even get a base hit somewhere. Tyler Wells then comes into the game, and on a 2-2 pitch to Victor Mesa, I mean, the second it left Wells' hands, and you saw what was heading to the plate, you knew Victor Mesa was going to be putting a good swing on this ball, and he put a good enough of a swing to where he fits his first home run. I mean, it just What more do you what what more can you say other than that's just the Baltimore Orioles right there in a nutshell? You know, you can't get the offense to obviously come through for you. And then, of course, in the situation where you need the pitching to go out there and put together another big moment. Now, granted, starting off with another inherited runner, it's very and it'd be true for any team in Major League Baseball. But going up against a team like the Tampa Bay Rays, it feels very unlikely that you come through that situation without giving up a run. And instead, though, the Rays score two, which is obviously very big in extra innings. Because sure, the tying run comes to the plate in the bottom of the 11th, but to get two, that's a tall, that's that's kind of a tall hill to climb, especially for the Souls offense. Now Wells bears down, gets you through to the bottom of the 11th, starting off with Adley at second, and Pete Alonzo comes through with the base hit in the left. Plates Adley Rutschman. Didn't need, obviously, to get all of it in that situation. If you're Pete, he's able to get up to second off the throwing error by Chandler Simpson. And really a remarkable job by the Orioles in this, because this is where it really showed. Of course, you know, Rico Garcia's Houdini act really provided it as well, but it really showed the Orioles character coming out. And then Jeremiah Jackson on maybe one of those situations where you just see the emotion of the team come out. RBI single in the left. Now Jeremiah Jackson has kind of been having a tough go at it recently. Obviously, it was so hot in April, but he slips this one by the third base side, and then Pete Alonzo, wheels falling off and all, slides safely at the plate, tons of emotion being poured out by Pete in that situation. Can be a very emotional guy. Was obviously there. And it would have been interesting. I mean, would have been very interesting to have seen if Fortez catches that ball cleanly, whether or not Pete would have been out at the plate. Not the most fleet-of-foot Pete Alonzo. But it would have been interesting to see if whether or not he would have been out. I mean, he just barely. I think he would have maybe survived the tag because it looks like the tag didn't actually get placed on him. But still, the ball was dropped at the plate. Tavares gets a sack bunt down. They intentionally walk Blaze, and then unfortunately, Jackson Holliday, who was just felt like he was a millisecond, a millisecond late on a changeup that could have gotten the winning run home. With a sack fly or a knock. To the 12th we go, and once again, still out there was Tyler Wells. Junior Camanero gets Simpson to third, and then Jonathan Aronda gets him in a little small ball, but a good job by Wells to bear down and only give up a run in that situation. Bottom 12, Taylor Ward with Colton Kowser starting at second. Ward is able to get Kowser to third. And then Gunnar Henderson doing, you know, something that probably would have liked to seen a couple innings ago, just making contact. And fortunately, Colton Kowser broke for the plate and was safe. Just got the hand in there. And we're tied again at five. Orioles can't do anything else with the Pete Alonso 2 out single. We go to the top of the 13th, top of the 13th. Dietrich Enz comes in, takes Wells out. Richie Palacios singles, Cedric Mullen singles, it's 6-5. Fortez with a sack fly, 7-5, and you're just going, oh my goodness. Are you kidding me? You know, this again. And to I think a lot of people's surprise. Schultons in the game. And Leoni Tavares comes through. And when I say comes through, in a huge way, you know, not just a RBI single or anything like that. A big double down the right field line to plate Jeremiah Jackson. And obviously huge because he switches spots now with nobody out, and it's a one-run game. And then Blaze Alexander, who had a tremendous day, tremendous day, comes through in this situation with a single to center to put the runners at the corners for Jackson Holiday, who couldn't come through a couple innings prior, but comes through here, and for a moment I thought he got all of it. Then I saw Mullins racing back, racing back, made the catch. He knows the dimensions obviously very well, but it's deep enough to tag both runners. Deep enough to tag Blaze to second with one out. Okay. One out, runner in scoring position, and Colton Kowser decides he's Played enough baseball today. He's decided for the second game in a row that he wants to send everyone home happy with AW. Just a little over 24 hours prior to winning the same way yesterday, a walk-off home run to right center field. And this time it did not hold up for Cedric Mullins to catch it. As Colton Kowser wins the game for the Baltimore Orioles, and to see the dugout and to see the fans and really to see Colton Kowser, the excitement, the exuberance winning that game, that marathon of a baseball game was so exciting. And now about how many minutes are we at here? 22 minutes into this episode, I'm gonna stop talking so you can hear from Craig Albernez and the man of the hour, Colton Kowser.

SPEAKER_01 22:55

Just so proud of our guys to keep fighting. You know, scoring the they kept on scoring the top, and we kept on answering. You know, at any point, our guys didn't waver. They kept competing, kept giving great at bats, and to set up Kowser to do it again. And um that was a great team win. Proud of our guys. But yeah, no, his confidence has been has been there, like we talked about since Kansas City is that he really started to feel his swing and get comfortable. And you know, he had some after uh a couple tough stretches, but he stuck with his process, stuck with the work, and now we get to see that come uh to fruition right now. And his at-bats have been have been better as of late, but uh outstanding right now. But in waiver, we kept on having great at-bats, and it's tough when the visiting team I wouldn't say has the advantage, but if they put up two now, now you're chasing, or put up one, and our guys did a great job of not trying to do too much and having great at bats and pass the baton to the next guy. I I couldn't be more proud of this group.

SPEAKER_02 24:00

Honestly, just trying to slow down, not think too much. Uh, a lot of the times, just getting in the batter's box, thinking about something that uh might be distracting me when it comes to like my load mechanics and just trying to throw that out the window and just go out and play and have fun. It's been a lot of fun. Honestly, probably one of my favorite wins as a as an Oriol. Um, back and forth, just always in the fight, really proud of our guys for um just keep showing up, keep grinding, and um felt like we were one hit away there for about four innings. So um really proud of our guys. Bulpin, hell of a job. Um Bradish, great start. Felt like it was about four hours ago. So, like I said, uh really proud of our guys, ultimate team win. I just happen to be the guy in the box.

SPEAKER_00 24:40

What a remarkable win by the Baltimore Orioles, who are now six games under 500. They're two games back of the wild card. We talk about it all the time here. I mean, it is a rough American league right now, but teams are starting. I mean, the Houston Astros don't look now, they're only seven games under 500. They were sitting at the bottom of the barrel with the Angels not too long ago. They're two and a half games back of a wild card spot. The Orioles, who still have one of the worst run differentials in baseball, are remarkably continuing to get better and better starting pitching, and their offense these last four games have been much better. And now, as we get to the final two games of this series, we have Shane Baz on the mound tonight, and let's see how his former club attacks him differently than last week. And then obviously, you go from Shane Bass to Chris Bassett, who's been able to keep the game within reason for the Orioles, you know, offense to eventually come through. Hopefully he can do that yet again, and hopefully the offense can just respond. Going up against Stephen Matz, who they saw last week on Wednesday, and Griffin Jax, who they will see tonight, who they also saw last week as well. So let's see what the Orioles can do. Let's see them win this series against a formidable opponent in the Tampa Bay Rays, and what it would, I think, do to this Baltimore Orioles fan base that was so down on the team. It's tough to really say, well, you know, they last week being swept by the Tampa Bay Rays was the lowest this fan base has been on this group of Orioles, because they were, you know, a 75 win team last season and were pretty bad. But I will say, going from last year into this year with a new manager, because it was all kind of, well, it was Brandon Hyde's fault. Now it's kind of started to look like, well, maybe wasn't entirely Brandon Hyde's fault. Is it the players? Do they need to tear it down? What do they do about who's calling the shots in the front office? And now you go from that low point of that, which arguably was the lowest point the fan base has been on this team, to the excitement of the last two days, the hope that maybe they can turn this season around. That maybe they can get back into the wild card. Get back to 500, because they gotta get out of the basement too. Let's see it. Let's see them do it as a continue to play a red hot Tampa Bay Rays team. Thanks everyone for tuning in, and we'll talk to you now pretty much tomorrow to recap the final two games against the Tampa Bay Rays.

SPEAKER_04 28:01

Something magic happens every time you go, you make the magic happen. The magic of Orioles baseball when the game is closed. And the yokes are hot. That's a thunder report from 34 to give it all they got.