Kjerstad drops go-ahead triple just inside foul line, 'gritty' Orioles win 5th straight

SEATTLE -- As the top of the seventh inning ended at T-Mobile Park on Wednesday night, Heston Kjerstad strolled off the field toward the third-base dugout. The 26-year-old walked by a smiling Tony Mansolino, the Orioles’ interim manager who gave Kjerstad a pat on the back.

Kjerstad, who struggled for much of late May, is now rewarding his skipper’s faith in him.

The reason for Mansolino’s grin was Kjerstad’s go-ahead two-run triple, a drive to right field in the seventh that lifted Baltimore to a 3-2 victory over Seattle and extended its winning streak to a season-high five games. It was Kjerstad’s second career three-bagger -- the first came Sunday, when he snapped an 0-for-20 skid during a 3-2 win over the White Sox.

“It’s just hitting the ball to the right part of the park,” Kjerstad said with a smile of his own. “Gives you a chance to get an extra base.”

After playing 54 games for the O’s in sporadic stints over the previous two seasons, Kjerstad entered the 2025 campaign with an opportunity to seize a larger role. The 2020 first-round Draft pick has gotten consistent playing time -- largely due to the club’s plethora of injuries -- but his batting average dipped to .182 at the end of May, his lowest mark since the start of April.

Mansolino, who became interim manager when Brandon Hyde was dismissed on May 17, refused to give up on Kjerstad, a former top prospect.

“I think we just try to deemphasize what he’s going through right now,” Mansolino said Tuesday afternoon. “Struggling for two months, we saw Gunnar [Henderson] do it a couple years ago, I think it was in ‘23, had a bad April and May. So we’ve seen this. I think this is kind of expected.

“It stinks when you’re going through it. It hurts. It’s hard to watch. But I think more just make him realize this is just kind of part of the game and keep throwing him out there.”

It’s much more fun to see a young hitter beginning to figure out big league pitching.

Kjerstad is 4-for-9 (.444) with three extra-base hits and three RBIs through the first three games of June. The outfielder collected two hits in Tuesday’s series-opening 5-1 win in Seattle, including an RBI single in the ninth. Then, the University of Arkansas product delivered the big hit on Wednesday, helping the Orioles improve to 24-36.

Baltimore trailed, 2-1, entering the seventh, when Ramón Urías began a rally with a one-out walk against left-hander Gabe Speier. With two outs in the frame, Seattle turned to righty Carlos Vargas, who immediately issued a four-pitch walk to Coby Mayo.

Kjerstad stepped to the plate and fell behind, 0-2, after watching a first-pitch strike from Vargas and swinging and missing at a 97.2 mph sinker. But Kjerstad made contact on the next pitch, a 91 mph cutter, turning on the low offering and dropping it just fair in right.

“Love to see that. Love to see him get a triple and get those legs moving a little bit,” said catcher Adley Rutschman, who hit a solo home run in the sixth. “He’s looked good. Guy just always has an amazing attitude. Such a team ballplayer. So, nice to see him get a big hit for us tonight.”

The Orioles had been 1-29 when trailing after six innings. Early in the year, breaks weren’t seeming to go their way.

Perhaps the fortune is turning after Kjerstad’s triple tucked inside the foul line.

“The ball off the bat, we’re looking at it from our angle thinking it’s going to hook foul -- and it feels like it’s hooked foul all year -- but it stayed fair,” Mansolino said. “Right now, it’s a gritty group.”

Baltimore was a season-worst 18 games below .500 (16-34) on May 24. It has since won eight of 10 and will have a chance for a second straight sweep in Seattle on Thursday.

“Just waited for that turnaround to come,” said left-hander Cade Povich, who allowed two runs in 5 1/3 innings. “We’re starting to kind of find ourselves a little bit and get in a groove and gain some confidence back and really be the team that we know we are.”

Are the Orioles -- who reached the postseason each of the past two years -- embracing an underdog mentality as they try to climb back into playoff contention?

“I think the team's always been a little bit of an underdog,” Kjerstad said. “Definitely won a lot more the past two seasons, and I think we're kind of getting back to our mojo here the past week."