BALTIMORE -- Reds right-hander Hunter Greene was nearly unhittable over his first four starts of the 2025 season. However, the Orioles didn’t have any issues Saturday at Camden Yards.
Baltimore slugged five home runs -- including three off Greene during his three-inning start -- to power a 9-5 victory over Cincinnati. Ramón Laureano went deep twice, which included swatting a tie-breaking two-run homer in the third that put the O’s ahead for good.
Let’s dive deeper into the Orioles’ latest homer fest, which featured their most home runs in a game since they clubbed six on Opening Day in Toronto on March 27.
Back-to-back jacks to start it off
The O’s opened the bottom of the first with back-to-back homers by Cedric Mullins and Gunnar Henderson off Greene, who had a 0.98 ERA and a 0.58 WHIP entering the contest. It was the first time Baltimore began a game with consecutive homers since June 7, 2022, when Mullins and Trey Mancini did so against Cubs right-hander Keegan Thompson.
“The at-bats off Greene the first few innings, with the stuff that he has, that’s electric,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “For Cedric and Gunnar to jump him right away, I thought we really competed well against him.”
In addition to extending his team lead in home runs (six) and RBIs (19), Mullins’ blast marked his 18th career leadoff homer. That ranks second in franchise history behind only Brady Anderson (44).
Henderson homered for the second time in three days after not hitting any home runs over his first 10 games of the season.
Laureano stays ready
After Heston Kjerstad exited with a right elbow contusion at the start of the third inning, Laureano entered the game in left field. The 30-year-old outfielder hadn’t been expecting to play, hence his pregame workout decision.
“I was like, ‘Today’s Saturday. I’m kind of bored. What am I going to do? I’ll do some biceps I saw on Instagram. Let me do that,’” Laureano said.
Then, Laureano brought the muscle by homering twice -- his fifth career multi-homer game and his first since June 30, 2022, when he slugged a pair for the A’s in Seattle.
Laureano’s first long ball was a go-ahead two-run homer off Greene that gave the Orioles a 5-3 lead. He later added a two-out solo shot in the seventh, marking his third home run of the season -- all coming over the past four days.
It was the fifth time in franchise history a player homered twice after coming off the bench and the first since Mancini on June 7, 2017, vs. the Pirates.
“Definitely the player of the game. Ramón stays ready,” Hyde said. “He works his butt off every single day, so [I'm] really happy to [see] him have the success.”
A slump-breaking homer
After Laureano’s home run in the seventh, Jordan Westburg immediately followed with a homer of his own off Reds reliever Carson Spiers. It marked the first time the O’s hit two sets of back-to-back homers in the same game since June 27, 2022, at Seattle, when Adley Rutschman, Ryan Mountcastle, Anthony Santander and Austin Hays all went deep.
Most importantly, Westburg’s home run to left broke a long hitless drought. The 26-year-old had been mired in an 0-for-30 slump prior to that at-bat. Per the Elias Sports Bureau, it was the longest stretch without a hit for a Baltimore player since Dwight Smith Jr. had an 0-for-33 skid from June 30-July 20, 2019.
Hyde felt Westburg took better at-bats all day, and the All-Star infielder agreed.
“My swing feels a little bit better,” Westburg said. “I've been grinding away at the cage trying to get this figured out, so it's going to be a good stepping stool for these next couple of games and next couple days, just to build on.”