The relievers in the Orioles’ bullpen were likely the only people in the ballpark who knew the ball wasn’t nestled in Brice Matthews’ glove.

With bases loaded in the fifth, catcher Adley Rutschman lined a hard-hit ball into the left-center field alley. It had enough juice to leave the park, but Matthews almost made a supreme play. The Astros center fielder leaped and caught the ball, but as he crashed into the wall, it slipped out and fell into the bullpen.

The crowd waited, unsure if he caught it. The Orioles relievers celebrated alone. Soon, the rest of Camden Yards joined to cheer Rutschman’s grand slam, which gave Baltimore a sizable advantage on its way to a blowout 10-3 victory over Houston in the first game of Thursday’s doubleheader.

“I couldn’t tell if they were like, ‘Oh my gosh, he caught it, what a great catch,’ or he didn’t,” said Rutschman, so he waited with the rest of the crowd while the bullpen celebrated. “There was two ways it could have gone.”

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“Everything he did was, like, perfect, and when he hit the wall, the ball came right out,” manager Craig Albernaz said. “It was a great effort by him. I thought he had it.”

Rutschman won’t mind if his grand slam needed a bit of luck to count. At the very least, he thought, a robbed homer would have been a sacrifice fly in that situation.

Rutschman has been sensational to begin the season. He followed his grand slam with another line drive — this one a single — to elevate his batting average to .356 with a 1.067 on-base-plus-slugging percentage. Since returning off the injured list for left ankle inflammation, Rutschman has a hit in all six games.

Jeremiah Jackson didn’t need any assistance on his grand slam in the seventh — the first time the Orioles have had multiple grand slams in a game since Sept. 11, 2015. It’s the eighth time in franchise history.

Hunting the first pitch he saw, Jackson lashed a hanging sweeper from right-hander Jason Alexander over the left-field fence. That was Jackson’s second grand slam this season, following the one he hit during the game in which his foul ball broke the right side of Albernaz’s jaw.

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“I always told him, too, I go, ‘Hey, whatever you need it. You have my left side of my face, too, if you want to get something going,’” Albernaz joked. “But that was a great swing by J.J.”

It turned the game into a blowout and provided ample run support for a pitching staff that didn’t require much.

Right-hander Chris Bassitt produced his best start of the season with 6 2/3 innings and one earned run. When he left the mound, leaving two runners for right-hander Rico Garcia to strand, Bassitt earned a standing ovation.

Before this, his first five starts for Baltimore were uneven. He didn’t provide length, even when he did hold a team in check. His longest appearance was 5 1/3 innings, and Bassitt allowed five runs against the Kansas City Royals in that one.

But Bassitt showed signs of finding his footing, even though he struggled to find efficiency during his outings. He showed a much better side of himself Thursday.

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The 37-year-old veteran said he and the starters had a “come to Jesus” talk about the beginning of their season ahead of right-hander Shane Baz’s start Tuesday. The blunt discussion has led to two strong outings in a row.

“I’m not going to give you our secrets, but I think all of our starters have been pretty poor throughout the year, and I thought we kind of had a ‘come to Jesus’ before Shane’s start, just had some talks, some hard talks, about how we were pitching, our mindset pitching,” Bassitt said. “And then Shane went out there and did his thing. Thought he was on the attack. That’s how we want to be. I think overall we’ve been too cute throughout the year, and we didn’t do well. We have guys, bullpen-wise and obviously starter, who are way too good to be cute out there.”

The power from Rutschman and Jackson, plus Bassitt’s strong outing, secured Baltimore a series win. The Orioles and Astros play again in about half an hour, with right-hander Brandon Young on the mound.

This article will be updated.