Jackson Holliday Records First MLB Hit as Orioles’ Sweep-Less Streak Stays Alive
Despite a slow start to his major-league career, rookie sensation Jackson Holliday got on the board with his first big-league hit against the Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday, sparking a pivotal comeback for the Baltimore Orioles.
The 20-year-old – baseball’s top-rated prospect – stepped to the plate with a runner on first and his club trailing 4-3 in the seventh inning, prompting the home crowd at Camden Yards to rise to its feet. And the first-overall selection from 2022 didn’t disappoint.
Playing in front of his dad – former big-league outfielder Matt Holliday – and mom, Jackson Holliday laced a 99.3-mph sinker into right field for a single – a ball that jumped off his bat at 101.4 mph. With it, he advanced Jordan Westburg to third, putting runners on the corners with no outs.
Holliday came around to score as Adley Rutschman hit into a double play, registering Baltimore’s second run of the inning to put them ahead 5-4. They added another run in the eighth to complete the comeback, securing a 6-4 victory in a game started by former Brewer Corbin Burnes.
The left-handed-hitting infielder had gone 0-for-11 with seven strikeouts to begin his major league career heading into Sunday’s series finale. He then extended his hitless drought to 13 straight plate appearances by striking out in his first two at-bats of the contest.
But having his childhood dream become a reality was worth the wait, even though a challenging introduction to the majors came before it.
“Not so much difficult, just a lot, you know? It’s a lot. It’s been fun. It’s quite an experience. I don’t think I’d ever take it for granted, the experience that I’ve had,” Holliday told reporters, including MLB.com’s Jake Rill. “If you go 0-for for three or four games, I mean, it’s going to happen in baseball. I prefer it not to be at the beginning of my career, but it’s going to happen.”
Baltimore’s prized rookie made his major league debut at Fenway Park last Wednesday, delivering his first RBI despite an 0-for-4 performance. He’s accounted for three runs scored in four games since being called up from Triple-A Norfolk.
Holliday opened this season in the minors after failing to break the club’s Opening Day roster out of camp. However, it wasn’t because of a poor showing, as he hit .311 with two home runs and six RBIs across 15 exhibition games in the spring.
Those impressive results carried over into the minor-league season, with the young lefty exploding to a .333/.482/.595 slash line while blasting a pair of dingers and driving in nine over 10 games.
“I’m just happy for the kid,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “Just to see the look on his face after he got that hit — and a huge hit for us at the time, too. Happy for him. Happy for his family. It’s a special moment he’ll never forget.”
Not only did Holliday’s first career hit in the majors help the Orioles improve to 9-6 on the season, but it also preserved their sweep-less streak of 96 consecutive regular-season series, which dates back to the 2022 season and is the third-longest streak in AL/NL history.
“We still haven’t gotten swept, right? I was kind of thinking of that, I’m like, ‘OK, we’ve got to get something rolling,’” Holliday said of his mindset as Baltimore trailed entering the bottom half of the seventh inning.
The Austin, Texas native has faced enormous expectations since arriving to the Orioles organization almost two years ago. Now that he’s reached the highest level of competition, those standards have only grown even higher.
With a hit under his belt, though, Holliday should start to feel more comfortable and relaxed at the plate as he looks to rebound from a difficult start to his major league career.
-Thomas Hall
Twitter: @Hall_Thomas_
Photo: Bryan Green. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.