The Baltimore Orioles needed to add juice this past offseason after finishing last in the AL East in 2025, so they made one of the biggest blockbuster moves in franchise history by signing star first baseman Pete Alonso. The five-time All-Star is one of baseball's best power hitters, and he displayed that in Tuesday's 8-5 loss to the Texas Rangers.

With the Orioles down 1-0 in the bottom of the fourth inning, Alonso dispatched a 97-mile-per-hour Jacob deGrom fastball into their bullpen in left-center field to tie the game. The 400-foot shot was the 31-year-old's first homer with his new team.

Alonso also got Baltimore's first hit of the game when he singled to center in the bottom of the first. After that, the squad only had one other baserunner before the 2025 Silver Slugger went yard.

The Orioles went down in order after Alonso's homer, but they knocked deGrom out of the game with a two-out rally in the fifth. Third baseman Blaze Alexander got the ball rolling with a single to center before left fielder Taylor Ward hit an infield single and shortstop Gunnar Henderson plated both players with a double to tie the contest 3-3.

Although Baltimore lost, those two innings symbolized Alonso's effect on the game. The Florida native flexed his power against a two-time NL Cy Young Award-winner who had previously dominated the lineup that night. Additionally, deGrom couldn't pitch around Henderson in the fifth with Alonso on deck, which is partially why he left a fastball up in the zone that got smacked to center.

Alonso is already showing why Baltimore gave him a five-year, $155 million contract in December. The former New York Met is slashing .316/.381/.474 with one homer and two RBIs over five games thus far.

Alonso has yet to have a misstep since his NL Rookie of the Year campaign in 2019. The 6-foot-3, 245-pounder has had an .800-plus OPS in all but one season over that span and has had 100-plus RBIs four times. He's also had 30-plus homers each year besides the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign.

While Henderson is the Orioles' homegrown star, they couldn't bank only on the farm system moving forward, as they haven't won a playoff game since 2012. Having both players gives Baltimore a reliable baseline offensively, as Tuesday showed.

Up next for the Orioles is a rematch with the Rangers on Wednesday before facing the Pittsburgh Pirates and Chicago White Sox on the road.