BALTIMORE — It was the biggest hit of Jordan Westburg’s career.
It was the biggest swing of his 221 Major League at-bats.
On Monday night the 25-year-old infielder came through with his most important moment so far as an Oriole.
We’re talking about his walk-off winner against the Kansas City Royals. Westburg played the hero in the bottom of the ninth and clinched a Birds win in the series opener. He took an 0-2 pitch over the wall in right. The two-run blast sealed a 6-4 victory for Baltimore. It was the first long ball of the season for Westburg, fourth of his career and so far the most memorable.
"It’s certainly the coolest moment of my brief big league career so far," he said in the clubhouse on Tuesday. "To be able to contribute in that fashion was special for me."
Westburg made his big league debut in 2023.
He described himself as an emotional guy but when he is on the field he said he makes an effort to keep those emotions in check. There was no bottling them up on Monday.
"A moment like that they had to come out. I was so fired up, not even anything other than the team gets a win," he said. "Being able to turn back to the dugout, that’s probably the only thing I remember about rounding the bases, turning back to the dugout and those dudes are fired up."
"Great moment for him" said Orioles manager Brandon Hyde. "He is such a serious player and takes his job extremely seriously and is really hard on himself and wants to be really good and you kind of could see a little bit of relief there when he hit first base and saw the ball go over the fence just because I know he wants to contribute so badly and he wants to do well and he loves to win."
Hyde has Westburg slated to play third base in game two against Kansas City and bat seventh.
When asked if he plans to put Monday night’s moment away or carry it with him, Westburg responded that he has to find out and hopes he can ride the momentum.
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