ORIOLES POSTCAST: Baltimore Orioles ERUPT for 8-Run 3rd, Crush Cleveland Guardians 9-5 to Win Series!

THE ORIOLES FINALLY EXPLODED behind Shane Baz, and it could not have come at a better time.

Luke Slabaugh reacts to Baltimore’s massive 9-5 win over the Cleveland Guardians, powered by an eight-run third inning that flipped the game, buried Foster Griffin, and delivered a three-game series victory for the O’s.

Baltimore sent its first seven hitters aboard in the third, went 6-for-8 with runners in scoring position in the inning, and made Cleveland pay from top to bottom of the lineup. Dylan Beavers sparked the rally with a bizarre 53-mph bloop double, then finished 2-for-5 with three RBI. Christian Encarnacion-Strand, Jackson Holliday, Rece Hinds, Jeremiah Jackson, Leody Taveras, and Beavers all helped turn a 2-0 hole into an 8-2 Baltimore lead.

Coby Mayo added even more thunder with his 22nd home run of the season in the seventh inning.

Shane Baz received rare early breathing room and responded with shutdown fourth and fifth innings, including a seven-pitch fifth. But his sixth-inning trouble nearly gave Cleveland life, as Nathaniel Lowe launched a two-run homer and Patrick Bailey ripped an RBI double before Baz exited with Baltimore still ahead 8-5.

After entering the night 1-7 in September and staring up at the Wild Card race, did this eight-run explosion feel like the jolt the Orioles desperately needed? Baltimore has 15 games left and little room for error while chasing Toronto and Texas.

On this Orioles Postcast:

Orioles score 8 runs in the third inning

Dylan Beavers delivers 3 RBI in the rally

Jackson Holliday and Jeremiah Jackson come through

Coby Mayo hits homer No. 22

Shane Baz battles through six innings