SAN DIEGO — The last time the Baltimore Orioles hit three consecutive home runs, it was Gary Sánchez, Ramón Urías and Ryan O’Hearn who teamed up to achieve the rare feat in June.

Sánchez is on the injured list. Urías is a Houston Astro. And O’Hearn was playing first base for the San Diego Padres on Wednesday afternoon when the Orioles did it again.

Colton Cowser, Coby Mayo and Alex Jackson combined to blast back-to-back-to-back homers in the third inning to propel the Orioles to a 7-5 win and a series sweep of the Padres. One of the best fan environments in Major League Baseball turned into a sour one over the span of three games, as fans watching Wednesday’s matinee at Petco Park frequently booed the local nine amid their skid.

It sounded like Camden Yards earlier this season. This time the Orioles were the one dishing out the punishment instead of taking it.

The Orioles (64-76) arrived in San Diego as losers of nine of their past 11 games, but they thoroughly outplayed the Padres (76-64), expected to be a playoff team, in every phase of the game.

“We’re incredibly proud of what we did in the series,” Orioles interim manager Tony Mansolino said.

All three homers came against Padres starter Nestor Cortes, a former Orioles Rule 5 draft pick who made his debut with Baltimore in 2018. Cowser ran into a center-cut fastball and launched it 420 feet to right-center field for a three-run blast that put Baltimore up 4-0. Two pitches later, Mayo mirrored Cowser with a 401-foot big fly to center field, and Jackson did the same on the first pitch he saw from Cortes, who was then removed before he could finish the third. Ryan Mountcastle added another run in the frame on an RBI single to put Baltimore up 7-0.

It’s uncommon for a team to blast three consecutive homers multiple times in the same season. After doing so twice this year, the Orioles have accomplished the feat 13 times in club history (since 1954).

“I’m pretty sure when we came into town they weren’t thinking they were going to get swept, and I think it just goes to show how resilient of a team we can be,” Mayo said. “They’re also really, really talented and a World Series-contending team, so we’re really happy with this road trip.”

Jackson’s long ball was actually the fourth given up by Cortes during his short outing. Jackson Holliday remained red-hot by opening the game with a leadoff homer to right field, his 16th of the season.

Orioles left-hander Cade Povich was excellent until he wasn’t Wednesday, pitching five scoreless innings before allowing the first five batters in the sixth to reach base, including a two-run homer from former Orioles superstar Manny Machado. After Povich loaded the bases with no outs and the Orioles leading 7-2, Mansolino brought in closer Keegan Akin to escape the jam given it was the most critical moment of the game. Akin handled the situation with aplomb, generating two ground-balls and one strikeout to allow only two more runs to score.

Akin surrendered a solo homer to Fernando Tatis Jr. in the seventh, but waiver claim Shawn Dubin pitched a scoreless eighth and Yennier Cano overcame his struggles in the ninth with a three-up, three-down save to send Padres fans home angry and the Orioles to a happy flight home.

“I mean, it’s awesome,” Povich said of playing spoiler. “This is a really good team obviously. To come in here and win three, I think it just shows us how good we really are and what we can do. Hopefully [we] kind of just continue this momentum that we have for the rest of the year, into the offseason, into spring spring training and into next year.”

Postgame analysis

Holliday slumped for most of August, raising questions about whether he should remain in the leadoff spot. Mansolino was asked last homestand whether he’d move Holliday down in the order, and the interim skipper said that the organization decided it was best to put their belief in Holliday to break out of his slump rather than try to jumpstart it by making a change.

That was the right decision.

In seven games since, the 21-year-old Holliday has hit .393 with a 1.193 OPS. He was undoubtedly the Orioles’ best hitter during the 4-2 West Coast trip, getting on base at an impressive clip, walking more often and being more aggressive (and smart) running the bases.

“I feel like for Jackson, because the profile is so big, the expectations are really unfair in a lot of ways,” Mansolino said. “And when a 21-year-old kid does struggle for a few weeks, it feels like the world is kind of crashing around him, and that’s not fair to the kid. So you look up on the scoreboard — and again, it’s a 21-year-old kid — he’s hitting .250, he’s got over a .700 OPS, he’s got [16] home runs, he’s going to push 15 stolen bases. If he gets hot in the last month, it could be 20-20.

“He’s doing incredible. He just had like a bad three weeks or a bad month. So yes, he’s had a great road trip, we expected it the whole time. He is so strong between the ears, and that’s why he’s going to be so good in this game.”

Holliday’s season hasn’t been linear, but perhaps he’s showcasing he’ll end it on a high note.

What they’re saying

Mayo on doing extensive pregame defensive work at first base and then excelling during a day game:

“I think that goes back to the offseason, working really hard and being in the gym and just being relentless in the offseason, because these last few weeks, it’s what you kind of push for in the offseason. It can get tiring and it is tiring in the moment, but you kind of have to, whatever you want to do, shower, rinse it off, get ready for the game, go walk in, go to the cage, whatever you need to do to kind of get ready. Go get some food, because we’ve got a game to play and this is the major leagues and it’s really hard and you want to give it your best foot forward all the time.”

By the numbers

In the eighth inning, Padres reliever Mason Miller pitched the 121st known immaculate inning — nine pitches to strike out the side — in MLB history. All nine pitches Miller threw were sliders: one called strike to open his at-bat against Jeremiah Jackson and then eight straight whiffs by Jackson, Mountcastle and Emmanuel Rivera.

Four MLB pitchers have recorded an immaculate inning this season. Three have Orioles ties. Brandon Young achieved the feat in July against the New York Mets. Andrew Kittredge did it in August, but it came for the Chicago Cubs after he was traded by the Orioles at the deadline. And then Miller on Wednesday. The first pitcher to deliver an immaculate inning this year was the Miami Marlins’ Cal Quantrill in May.

On deck

After a five-hour flight home and a day off Thursday, the Orioles will host the other top team in the National League West. The Los Angeles Dodgers will visit Baltimore, and two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani is expected to pitch sometime this weekend. It’s also possible that future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw does, too.

Saturday night’s game might be the most packed Camden Yards has been all season as the club celebrates the 30th anniversary of 2,131 when Cal Ripken Jr. broke Lou Gehrig’s consecutive games played streak.

____

©2025 The Baltimore Sun. Visit at baltimoresun.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.