Gunnar Henderson has shed some of the frustration from early in the season and now the Baltimore Orioles shortstop is aiming on more achievements.
Henderson could be front and center again heading into the middle contest of a three-game series against the visiting San Diego Padres on Saturday.
He belted his 100th career home run in the first game of the series when the Orioles won 7-3 on Friday night. The 24-year-old looks forward to more.
"Obviously it's cool to get to that number," Henderson said. "Hopefully a lot more coming. But yeah, it's definitely a cool little milestone to hit in this game because it's a super-hard game, but being able to hit those little milestones and kind of cherish those is pretty cool."
First-year Baltimore manager Craig Albernaz has been offering supportive words regarding Henderson throughout the past couple of months. Now with 14 home runs and 33 RBIs, some of Henderson's numbers are doing the talking.
"Saw the power, obviously, and another great walk against a tough lefty, and two (other) base hits," Albernaz said. "So yeah I think Gunnar is about to have some fun now."
The Padres have the lowest batting average in the big leagues at .218. They went 4-for-14 with runners in scoring position Friday.
Padres manager Craig Stammen said the team has a knack of staying lively in the dugout, so the energy is usually good.
"Even on the days it doesn't seem like we'll ever get a hit with a runner in scoring position," he said.
Orioles rookie right-hander Trey Gibson (1-1, 4.24 ERA) will make his fifth career start in Saturday's game.
"Love to have him around," Albernaz said of Gibson.
Gibson will have more advance notice than prior to Monday's outing when he was called back from Triple-A Norfolk and allowed three runs in 4 2/3 innings against the visiting Seattle Mariners.
"Just keep pounding the zone," Gibson said of his objective. "One of the biggest things I feel like I've seen about myself or learned about myself since coming up to the bigs is just kind of getting ahead to two strikes. I'm the type of pitcher that likes to pitch to ground balls and I feel like I did a decent job of getting those (in the Seattle game)."
Right-hander Randy Vasquez (5-4, 3.63) will be San Diego's starter, though he has gone nearly a month since his last victory (May 15). He made it through four innings Sunday versus the New York Mets but suffered the defeat by giving up four runs.
Vasquez has surrendered at least one home run in four consecutive games - a total of six long balls in 19 innings.
He was a loser in his most-recent matchup with the Orioles when he gave up six runs in two innings in a 2024 game in Baltimore. His other outing against Baltimore came with five shutout innings in a 2023 home game when he was pitching for the New York Yankees.
The Padres made moves Friday by reinstating infielder Xander Bogaerts from the paternity list and designating outfielder Bryce Johnson for assignment. Bogaerts went 1-for-3 in the series opener.
--Field Level Media