By the end of it, Jackson Holliday’s jersey was unbuttoned at the neck, he was wet from an ice-water bath by second base, and a smile was firmly affixed to his face.

“I don’t think I’ve ever really experienced anything like that,” Holliday said. “It’s pretty exciting.”

The Orioles waited long enough. On Wednesday, they finally did it.

Baltimore managed its first walk-off win of the season when Holliday pulled a double down the right-field line and Dylan Carlson raced home from first base in the ninth inning. The Orioles are the last team to do so this year, and before Carlson even crossed the plate, Gunnar Henderson and others were spilling out of the dugout to celebrate Holliday’s first career walk-off.

“Jackson was due there, and really happy for him,” said left-hander Trevor Rogers, whose seven-inning start set the groundwork of the win. “We were able to pull it out.”

To get there, to walk off 4-3 winners against the Seattle Mariners, the Orioles first had to blow the lead in the top of the ninth.

Left-hander Dietrich Enns pitched a scoreless eighth inning. He has the ability to throw multiple innings, and it originally appeared as though he would return for the save situation. Instead, right-hander Yennier Cano began warming in the bottom of the eighth and entered for the ninth.

Cano allowed a walk and single, and the Mariners pulled off a double steal. A groundout and sacrifice fly, the latter of which came against left-hander Keegan Akin, tied the game.

But Carlson’s two-out single — his second hit of the game but only his fifth in 52 at-bats since July — against right-hander Matt Brash brought Holliday to the plate, and his double was cause for celebration. After all, Holliday hasn’t lit the world on fire of late. He entered Wednesday with a .627 on-base-plus-slugging percentage since July.

“Jackson ... feels like he’s fighting for his life at the plate right now, but he’s not,” interim manager Tony Mansolino said. “He’s just doing what you’re supposed to do: struggle a little bit at times. It’s impressive to be frustrated and then in the biggest moment come up big and knock in the winning run. So a lot of maturity by Jackson.”

It wasn’t the only adventure of a ball hit into the right-field corner, either. Two innings earlier, the Orioles broke out of a dry spell with the help of a different Jackson.

As the ball trickled back toward the infield dirt in the seventh, Coby Mayo and Jeremiah Jackson just kept trucking around the bases. It seemed to take ages: the lofting trajectory of Jackson’s fly ball to right field; the chase for the loose ball. But, when Mayo rounded third and approached home plate, it all sped into a blur.

It was a relay throw from first baseman Josh Naylor that skipped past catcher Cal Raleigh and the sliding Mayo. It was the sudden realization that the ball had skidded into the third-base camera well and that there was no getting it back. It was home plate umpire Jansen Visconti pointing to Jackson at third, then pointing to the plate — a Little League home run for the 25-year-old rookie playing only his 10th game.

“In a moment like that, you’re just trying to have a good at-bat,” Jackson said. “Just competing. I’m not necessarily looking for a certain pitch in that situation, more so just something that I can handle.”

The pinch-hit heroics from Jackson were part of a three-run seventh inning that uncorked a run stoppage that had lasted 17 innings. And, after a ninth-inning run, Baltimore ended the Mariners’ winning streak at eight games.

Even half an inning earlier, it appeared as though the Orioles might be headed for another shutout defeat. Then Ryan Mountcastle hit a line-drive home run that actually cleared the wall, and Jackson hit that high-flying triple-turned-homer because of a throwing error. For a Camden Yards crowd that endured a one-hour, 40-minute rain delay, they won’t care how the Orioles got it done. They got it done.

Baltimore’s victory Wednesday backed up a seven-inning master class from Rogers. A day after the Orioles lost 1-0 despite right-hander Dean Kremer’s eight-inning gem, the sudden offense to chase right-hander Logan Gilbert from the contest breathed life into a restless crowd.

“Especially after they tie it up there [in the ninth], kind of like, ‘Here we go again,’ kind of blow it,” Rogers said. “But that’s not the attitude of these guys. We beared down even harder.”

Before the game, as Mansolino described his preferred style of plate appearance, he said he doesn’t mind if his hitters attack an early pitch in the count if it means following their plan. If they can’t do that, Mansolino wants the Orioles to work the count, to help force a pitcher out of a game that way. But, if they see a pitch they like, why wait?

Jackson didn’t bother waiting. He rarely does. He admitted that, to avoid the strikeouts that defined much of his early years in the minor leagues, he avoids two-strike counts altogether. So, when he saw the hanging slider from left-hander Gabe Speier, he swung and lofted the pitch high to right field, and it cascaded off the out-of-town scoreboard and rolled back toward the infield.

All the while, Mayo trucked around the bases and scored from first with a head-first slide. And, when the relay throw home shot by and landed out of play, Jackson walked home, too.

“You try to get something you can handle and put a good swing on it,” Jackson said. “Not trying to complicate it too much. Go up there, I faced him last night so I kind of had a good idea of what he does.”

It was rumble-and-tumble fun, and as the Orioles (54-66) stumble to the finish line in 2025, that may be what it takes some nights. The offense came at the right time to support Rogers, who continued a tremendous season by allowing four hits in seven innings.

A triple from Julio Rodriguez and a single from Naylor in the seventh fudged his otherwise flawless night. Rogers lowered his ERA to 1.43 in 11 starts. According to MLB.com, the only Orioles pitcher with a lower ERA through his first 11 starts of a season was Hall of Famer Hoyt Wilhelm in 1959 (1.25).

The Orioles lost the lead in the ninth, but they finally walked a game off. Holliday delivered — then lost a few buttons on his jersey as his teammates mobbed him.

“I’m glad I was able to share it with the guys and finally get that first walk-off hit for the team,” Holliday said. “Hopefully we can continue to play really good baseball and go on a run here.”

News and notes

• The recoveries of Colton Cowser (concussion) and Tyler O’Neill (right wrist inflammation) will take longer than initially expected, Mansolino said. Cowser will not return Thursday, the first day on which he’d be eligible for activation. O’Neill may not be ready until late August or early September.
• In his Triple-A debut, right-hander Trey Gibson allowed one hit with six strikeouts in five scoreless innings. He needed only 53 pitches to do it. The 23-year-old prospect was promoted to Norfolk after producing a 1.55 ERA in 10 starts for Double-A Chesapeake.

This article has been updated.