Albernaz is already back in the dugout for Tuesday's game


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The Baltimore Orioles picked up their best win of the young season Monday night, erasing a 7-1 deficit to beat the Arizona Diamondbacks at Camden Yards (BAL 9, ARI 7). Jeremiah Jackson hit a grand slam to kick off the comeback, Pete Alonso mashed a go-ahead two-run homer, and Jackson went deep again to add an insurance run. It was his first career two-homer game.

"I think that just goes to show the type of team we have," Jackson told MLB.com about the comeback. "I don't think we dwell too much in the past, whether it's good or bad. We have this Day One mentality every day."

Around the heroics, there was a scary moment in the middle of the comeback. In the fifth inning, Jackson laced a foul ball into the O's dugout, which hit manager Craig Albernaz directly in the face. Team personnel took Albernaz, who was seen with a big bruise on his right cheek after the game, into the clubhouse to tend to him. Here's the incident:

"I hit it, and I kind of saw Alby holding his face. Heart kind of dropped," Jackson told MLB.com. "It was kind of a weird 15 minutes until I was able to see him afterward and see that he was doing OK."

Albernaz said Tuesday that he suffered a fractured jaw and at least seven fractures in his cheek. His jaw doesn't have to be wired shut and he won't need surgery, but he will be on a soft food diet for at least six weeks. Albernaz will continue to manage the Orioles while he recovers and he's already back in the dugout Tuesday night.

"I feel good, actually. I mean, considering everything," Albernaz told the Baltimore Banner on Tuesday. "... "This is what we're here for. We're here for the players. We have a game. I'm physically able to be here, so let's go. If my jaw was wired shut, I'd still be here."

Jackson presented Albernaz with the grand slam ball after the game and signed it, "Sorry, homie."

Albernaz, 43, is in his first year as O's manager in his first MLB managerial job. A former minor-league catcher, Albernaz served as bench coach and assistant general manager with the Cleveland Guardians before joining Baltimore.

Monday's win improved the Orioles to 9-7. They've won three straight games and six of their last seven. Jackson has started 12 of the team's 16 games at second base, where he's filling in for Jackson Holliday. Holliday is recovering from hamate surgery and was recently shut down after reporting soreness in his wrist.

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