ATLANTA — The Baltimore Orioles and Atlanta Braves entered this weekend’s series as near-mirror images of one another.

When the season began, both teams had World Series aspirations anchored by talented, mostly homegrown lineups. Injuries and underperformance have caused them to play well below expectations, placing them outside the playoff picture heading into Friday’s series opener.

The Orioles (40-49) showed there is a difference between them this weekend, however, sweeping the Braves (39-50) with a 2-1 win Sunday afternoon. Trevor Rogers continued his resurgence with 6 2/3 shutout innings and Jackson Holliday went 4 for 4 at the plate and smacked his 11th home run of the season, a two-run shot in the third that proved to be the difference.

“[The Braves] have a good pitching staff and I thought we took good at-bats and battled, and our pitchers did great,” Holliday said. “So, I think it’s a lot of momentum going into these last six games [of the first half] and into the All-Star break.

It’s not the first time Rogers and Holliday have combined to lead the Orioles to a win, but both put together some of their best performances of the season on Sunday. Rogers held a Braves lineup that was without Ronald Acuña Jr. and Marcell Ozuna to four hits and two walks with six strikeouts, working efficiently despite showcasing less velocity with his pitches compared with his first four starts.

“It’s an early game,” Rogers said of why his velocity was down. “I’ve come to the realization if I can live 92, 93, touch of 94 and not do anything to try and get velo to get out of my mechanics, I have trust in my ability to command the ball and mix pitches that 93 becomes 95 when I’m throwing my breaking ball in the zone and my changeup in the zone. Sometimes, it’ll be there. Sometimes, it’s not. But as long as I can live with that 92, 93, I’m all for that.”

He lowered his season ERA to 1.57 with the effort, further demonstrating that he is a different pitcher than the one who was demoted to Triple-A after recording a 7.11 ERA in four starts with Baltimore in 2024 after being acquired from the Miami Marlins at last year’s trade deadline.

“You look up on the board and see the numbers up there, it’s been really impressive,” interim manager Tony Mansolino said. “So, what a great story. Just thinking about kind of all the grief that he got last year and the trade and everything, and, not to say that we’re through the woods by any means, but it’s just really nice to see some positive news come for him and for the organization on him.”

Holliday became just the fourth player in Orioles history to record multiple four-hit games at 21 years old or younger, joining Manny Machado, Eddie Murray and Brooks Robinson. He finished a triple shy of the cycle, collecting three of Baltimore’s four hits off Braves starter Grant Holmes.

“Honestly, kind of batting coming into today,” Holliday said. “Kind of grinding through some stuff and just up there trying to compete. Got some lucky knocks and some good ones. So, just part of the game. But very happy with how I felt during the game compared to what I’ve been feeling the past few days. So, yeah, just glad we won.”

None was bigger than the home run, which snuck over the right field wall at a Statcast-projected 375 feet. The Orioles’ offense otherwise struggled to string together any rallies and finished 1 for 9 with runners in scoring position on the day.

Rogers gave way to Yennier Cano with two outs in the seventh, and the right-hander stranded a runner at third with a groundout to end the frame. He then went back out for the eighth and worked around a leadoff single by right fielder Stuart Fairchild to record two outs before Gregory Soto came in and struck out first baseman Matt Olson.

Seranthony Domínguez, who wasn’t available the past two days with back soreness after he slept on it awkwardly, got the save opportunity with closer Félix Bautista unavailable because he pitched the previous two nights.

He gave up a solo home run to catcher Sean Murphy to end his 16 1/3-inning scoreless streak and allowed the tying run to reach when second baseman Ozzie Albies singled, but he struck out Drake Baldwin and got Michael Harris II to ground out and secure the victory.

“The back situation the last couple of days, he was fine, just trying to play the long game with him a little bit,” Mansolino said. “Just kind of lined up to where we had a former closer, a guy that has pitched huge innings in huge games over his career, sitting at the pen at the end of this thing. We felt fortunate we had him available and he was able to get the job done.”

Postgame analysis

As the Orioles await word on whether any of their players will join Ryan O’Hearn at the All-Star Game back in Atlanta next week, Holliday has one of the best cases among the rest of their roster.

Even if he doesn’t make the initial roster, he’s been among the most productive second basemen in the American League this season as his four-hit performance Sunday raised his season slash line to .260/.309/.415. He’s tied with Cedric Mullins for the second-most homers on the team and has nine stolen bases.

Holliday still has room to grow with his plate discipline, but it’s a scary thought for the rest of the league to imagine what the 21-year-old will be able to do once he becomes more polished.

What they’re saying

Mansolino on Holliday’s big performance after going 3 for 25 (.120) over his previous six games:

“He stunk yesterday; that’s the beautiful part about Jackson. … He is Jackson Holliday, not just because of the skill set but because of the emotional maturity and the ability to stay calm. You start to see maybe the average go below .250 or the OPS dip below .700 and then you start to worry, is he going to be OK? Then he walks out today, no big deal. And that’s just one of the many reasons why he’s going to be a really good player in this league for a really long time.”

By the numbers

Rogers’ 1.57 ERA is the best by an Orioles starter over his first five outings to begin a season since Dean Kremer had a 1.29 ERA to start the 2022 campaign. It’s the fourth best over the past 35 years, trailing only Kremer, John Means (1.50 in 2021) and Dylan Bundy (1.42 in 2018).

On deck

The Orioles return to Baltimore after wrapping up a 4-2 road trip. They have a day off on Monday before the New York Mets come to town for another clash against a National League East opponent. Right-hander Brandon Young is set to start for the Orioles opposite Clay Holmes, who has a 2.99 ERA in 17 starts for the Mets this season after being converted from a reliever.

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