Samuel Basallo’s first career walk-off hit came in no-doubt fashion with a powerful blast to the outfield seats. His second one took a crew chief review to determine that it indeed landed just fair.

Basallo’s blooper down the left-field line evaded Pirates outfielder Tommy Pham’s lunging attempt and hit chalk. It was ruled a foul ball live, however, until umpire Alan Porter called for a review of the play. Gunnar Henderson, who began the sequence on third, stood near home plate. Basallo stood beyond first base. The Orioles in the dugout stood ready on the top steps, the Gatorade jug already in Dean Kremer’s hands.

As Porter announced the vital words — “the call on the field is overturned” — the remaining Orioles fans erupted. Baltimore’s players chased down Basallo for a second time in four games. The Orioles won, 3-2, in wacky, wonderful fashion for a third walk-off in four games.

“I was just happy,” Basallo said through team interpreter Brandon Quinones. “These are moments I’ve been dreaming about my whole life, so really just trying to take it all in and really just celebrating that moment exactly as if I hit the home run the other day.”

With another late win, Baltimore has won six of its last seven games. Five of those came against the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers, the pair of National League West foes duking it out for a division championship.

As poorly as the Orioles began the season, they’re ending it on a higher note. The seven innings from right-hander Kyle Bradish in his third start since returning from elbow surgery went a long way toward making this run a reality, but two shutdown innings from left-hander Dietrich Enns and Basallo’s high-flying popup finished it off.

Basallo already has a knack for this, despite only debuting late last month. In Boston, Basallo’s dribbler near the plate on Aug. 19 was enough to provide Baltimore the go-ahead run in the top half of another extra innings game. He bombarded the bleachers at Camden Yards on Friday with a walk-off homer in the ninth. And while Basallo had far better swings with lesser results Tuesday, he’ll take the outcome for what it is.

“Contact is king, right, with the runners in scoring position,” interim manager Tony Mansolino said. “I think a lot of the modern game, a lot of modern analytics for a while said three true outcomes — home runs, walks, strikeouts, and I get it. But when runners are on second and third base, you put the ball in play, you’ve got a chance to score the guy.”

In Basallo’s mind, he was “not trying to hit a home run. I’m trying to hit the ball at a good angle, trying to hit the ball well.”

He did none of those things in that plate appearance, but it turned out well. The ball left Basallo’s bat at a neck-craning 51-degree launch angle and a 75.7 mph exit velocity.

Still, “I had a feeling that the ball was fair,” Basallo said. And he was right.

“We all just kind of waiting to see the replay and didn’t know what the outcome was going to be,” said Enns, who lowered his ERA with the Orioles to 3.10. “But happy that it went our way.”

For Bradish to be pitching at all is an accomplishment. To be pitching this well so soon after returning from elbow surgery is a particularly impressive feat. In three starts, Bradish holds a 2.65 ERA. He completed six innings in his first game, worked through four in his second appearance and then posted seven innings of one-run ball Tuesday.

Bradish finished with four hits and two walks against him while striking out six — including a pair of batters caught looking on sinkers in the seventh.

That sinker, when coupled with his slider, gave Pittsburgh’s hitters fits, especially after he settled down from the first inning, when Bradish allowed a run after Spencer Horwitz doubled and Andrew McCutchen singled. Bradish allowed just three more baserunners over the next six innings.

“Just knowing I can be efficient like I was tonight and get through seven and give the team a quality start, that’s always the goal,” Bradish said.

He exited with the lead because of Jeremiah Jackson’s sixth-inning home run against right-hander Braxton Ashcraft, which is a continuation of Jackson’s sensational run since his promotion at the beginning of August. Jackson’s OPS elevated to .867 in a 33-game sample when Ashcraft’s errant pitch struck him in the elbow in the eighth.

Jackson may have left the game anyway half an inning later when the Orioles called for a defensive replacement, but the forced exit for one of Baltimore’s best stories in a lost season is just another injury in a recent rash of them.

For the fourth time in four games, the Orioles lost a player. Right-hander Dean Kremer had forearm discomfort; right-hander Tomoyuki Sugano hurt his foot; a foul ball hit Basallo’s hand.

The first three were all deemed, at this point, minor issues. Basallo returned behind the plate Tuesday, Sugano doesn’t expect to miss time and Kremer may only miss one start.

The Orioles could exhale postgame because Mansolino said the pitch didn’t cause Jackson lasting damage — a pain in the near term, a non-issue going forward. After all, while Baltimore attempts to win each game, there’s a certain frustrating quality to this whole thing. Beyond just these four recent departures is a season full of more serious maladies. And because eyes are beginning to turn toward 2026, any impediment toward health next year is a frustrating concept.

Equally frustrating, of course, was the way the Orioles lost a lead and required extra innings.

Pham powered a game-tying home run in the ninth inning against right-hander Yennier Cano right after the Orioles missed an opportunity to extend their lead. In the bottom of the eighth, Jackson’s hit by pitch followed Jackson Holliday’s second knock of the game. Baltimore had two on with no outs, but a flyout from Gunnar Henderson and a groundball double play for Ryan Mountcastle handed Cano a one-run edge.

But Basallo’s second walk-off in four games finished the job. At least, once the crew chief review confirmed it did.

“I think that’s kind of what we’ve been accustomed to the past few years, is keep battling no matter what the score is or where we’re at in the standings,” Bradish said. “But we’re used to having these one-run ballgames go our way, and it’s nice to have those couple in the past couple series.”

News and notes

• Infielder Jordan Westburg (ankle sprain) could head for a rehab assignment this weekend, interim manager Tony Mansolino said. He’s still dealing with some pain on the inside of his foot when throwing.
• Catcher Adley Rutschman (oblique strain) took swings in the cage Tuesday as he continues to approach a return. Rutschman could take full batting practice this weekend, although a return date is still murky.
• Some recent draft picks from the Orioles took batting practice at Camden Yards on Tuesday, including first rounder Ike Irish and competitive balance round selections Wehiwa Aloy, Slater de Brun and Caden Bodine. de Brun said he had already met Rutschman once, when the catcher visited de Brun’s high school in Bend, Oregon, last year. “He’s like a mentor to me,” de Brun said of Rutschman, who also grew up in Oregon.