Make it five in a row.
The Orioles returned from the All-Star break and extended the season-best win streak that they began just before it, as Baltimore beat the Houston Astros 3-2 to open a three-game series in Texas.
Taylor Ward hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the eighth off a hanging slider that also scored Adley Rutschman, who’d just hit a ground rule double down the right field line. Pete Alonso had the Orioles’ other RBI, walking with the bases loaded in the third to make it 1-1.
In his first appearance as an Oriole, right-handed reliever Cam Sanders – acquired from the Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday – came on with the bases loaded and one out in the seventh and got out of the jam. “Really impressive, that’s a tough situation to come into,” Orioles manager Craig Albernaz said of Sanders, who picked up his first MLB win with the Ward homer.
The Astros’ Peter Lambert stuck out a career-best 10 in six innings, and Steven Okert threw a scoreless seventh, but Rutschman – fresh off his third All-Star game appearance on Tuesday night – and Ward got to Houston left-handed reliever Bryan King.
Orioles starter Dean Kremer didn’t have his best command, and went four innings, allowing four hits, three walks, and two earned runs.
Anthony Nunez, Grant Wolfram and Sanders bridged the middle innings, Andrew Kittredge handled the eighth, and Tyler Wells battled for the save. He got AL MVP candidate Yordan Alvarez to fly out with a runner on and one out, then struck out Christian Walker with two on to end the game and improve the Orioles’ record to 47-51.
“It wasn’t easy, but [Wells is] such a competitor on the mound,” Albernaz said. “That was a big ninth.”
Baltimore leapt Houston (47-52) in the race for an American League wild-card spot, with two more games coming up in Houston.