Gunnar Henderson’s eighth-inning homer gives Orioles a 2-1 edge over Mets at Citi Field

The tie that waited for Henderson

Baltimore’s first run arrived in the second, when Heston Kjerstad doubled to right and Jackson Holliday scored. It was not the start of a big inning, just an efficient piece of damage in a game that kept refusing to open up. The Orioles would finish with seven hits, but they spent much of the night living on isolated moments rather than steady pressure.

The Mets found their reply in the fourth, and they needed only one swing to do it. A.J. Ewing drove a 374-foot homer to right to make it 1-1, wiping out Baltimore’s slim edge and resetting the game into a long middle stretch where every baserunner felt important. New York had chances to do more than tie it, but the score stayed level into the eighth.

That is what made Henderson’s at-bat so decisive. With the game still even, he sent a 397-foot homer to right-center in the eighth for Baltimore’s second and final run. It was Henderson’s only hit of the night, but it was the one that mattered most. The Orioles did not need volume at that point; they needed certainty, and Henderson supplied it.

Young escapes, and the Mets never cash in enough

If the box score offers one explanation for New York’s frustration, it starts with the gap between opportunity and reward. The Mets drew five walks and collected six hits, yet finished with only one run and left 14 men on base. Brandon Young’s line for Baltimore captured the balancing act: five innings, five hits, one run, five walks and six strikeouts over 106 pitches. He gave the Mets access to innings, but not the big inning they were chasing.

That is the part New York will have the hardest time accepting. Carson Benge had two hits. Juan Soto reached twice. Francisco Alvarez and Marcus Semien added singles. Ewing supplied the only extra-base hit with his homer. But a night with that much traffic needed a second scoring play somewhere, and it never came. From the fifth inning on, the Mets could not push across the run that would have changed the shape of the ending.

Our take: clean pitching, messy offense

Our take: the Orioles deserved this because they landed the two clearest blows. Kjerstad’s double put them ahead, and Henderson’s homer reclaimed the lead for good. But Baltimore should not confuse a narrow road win with a polished offensive night. The Orioles left 11 runners on base, struck out nine times and drew only one walk. That profile can win when the pitching line holds firm, but it leaves almost no room for an off inning or a second Mets homer.

There is also a useful lesson in how Baltimore pieced this together. Holliday’s two-hit game gave the lineup a little motion, Kjerstad turned one of those chances into a run, and Henderson supplied the power. That formula was enough here. Still, a club that gets seven hits, including two doubles and a home run, would prefer to turn more of that traffic into separation instead of waiting for a late solo shot.

For the Mets, the path forward looks just as clear. The patience was there: 145 pitches seen and five walks say they made Baltimore work. The finish was not. New York had only one extra-base hit, struck out eight times and grounded into a double play, all while leaving 14 on base. On a night when Jonah Tong gave them six strong innings and allowed just one run, the offense needed to turn that workload into something larger than a single Ewing homer. It did not, and against a lineup with Henderson in it, that was enough to lose by one.

Scoring moments

1. 2nd Inning

   Kjerstad doubled to right, Holliday scored.

2. 4th Inning

   Ewing homered to right (374 feet).

3. 8th Inning

   Henderson homered to right center (397 feet).