Dylan Beavers homers in Camden Yards debut but Orioles lose to Astros, 7-2

Matt Weyrich, The Baltimore Sun on Aug 21, 2025

Published in Baseball

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BALTIMORE — The Camden Yards crowd greeted Dylan Beavers with a standing ovation for his first career at-bat in front of his new home fans, and the Orioles’ rookie outfielder rose to the moment.

Beavers launched a 390-foot solo home run onto the flag court in right field and drove in both of the Orioles’ runs Thursday in their 7-2 loss to the Houston Astros. The blast was no cheap shot, either. Statcast determined that it would’ve cleared the fence in all 30 MLB ballparks.

Both Beavers and catcher Samuel Basallo made their MLB debuts last weekend in Houston but Thursday’s announced crowd of 18,061 became the first set of fans to witness the two top prospects suit up in their home uniforms. Beavers finished 1 for 3 with the homer, a walk and an RBI fielder’s choice while Basallo went 1 for 4 with a single.

Jesús Sánchez, who was a thorn in the Orioles’ side Sunday with two home run robberies, paced the Astros’ offense with a season-best 5-for-5 day as Brandon Young failed to build on his near-perfect game Friday. Young allowed seven runs on nine hits and two walks in 5 1/3 innings before leaving the game with a left hamstring injury he suffered while covering first base on a ground ball.

Former Orioles fourth-round draft pick Christian Walker took Young deep for a two-run home run in the first and Houston continued to pile on over the next two frames. Carlos Correa tacked on two more in the second, Sánchez dropped in an RBI single an inning later and Yainer Díaz put the game out of reach with a two-run homer shortly after.

The Orioles (59-68) generated plenty of traffic on the base paths with eight hits and a walk against Astros starter Jason Alexander. However, they finished 1 for 7 with runners in scoring position and fizzled in the late innings against Houston’s bullpen. Their best opportunity to cut into the lead came in the sixth, when they loaded the bases with one out but only pushed one run across on Beavers’ ground ball to first base.

Baltimore’s loss was just its second in its past eight games, ending a three-game winning streak. Houston, meanwhile, snapped its four-game skid.

Instant analysis

Beavers was a bit of a surprise addition to the Baseball America (No. 82) and ESPN (No. 94) top 100 rankings over the past few weeks. The Orioles’ outfield prospect was tearing it up in Triple-A Norfolk and he carried pedigree as a former first-round pick, but he was also 24 years old and previous rankings never had him close to the top-100 range.

“This is where I want to be,” Beavers said before the game. “I don’t really care much about the prospect list. I want to be up here helping them win ballgames. So, yeah, it’s neat but I don’t think into it too much.”

Yet his inclusion is an important development for Baltimore, which would gain a prospect promotion incentive draft pick if he stays under 130 at-bats the rest of the way and wins the American League Rookie of the Year Award next season. An important caveat, though: Beavers will still have to be on those lists to qualify. Given that he’s at the very end of both BA and ESPN’s rankings, that means he will need to hold his own at the plate enough to justify his spot.

So far, so good. Beavers has reached base in each of his first five games to begin his MLB career and his homer Thursday was an impressive display of the power that took a big leap forward this year. His bat is the most important tool in his profile and prospect evaluators will be looking for more performances like that to lock him into their rankings next spring.

On deck

The Orioles continue their four-game series with Houston on Friday as Cade Povich looks to outduel Lance McCullers Jr. Povich’s last outing was a 10-strikeout game against these same Astros last weekend; the left-hander carries a 4.32 ERA in three starts since returning from the injured list in early August.