Tyler O’Neill was the hero in the field and at bat in extra innings, as the Orioles beat the Houston Astros 4-2 on Saturday to win their sixth straight game in dramatic fashion in 11 innings.
O’Neill had the winning RBI and a crucial put out from the outfield with bases loaded and no outs in the 10th inning to keep the Astros from winning the game, before the O’s extended it.
Cam Sanders, acquired on Monday by Baltimore from Pittsburgh, threw the bottom of the 11th and was backed up by more good defense by Leody Taveres in center and another new face, Christian Encarnacion-Strand, at third, on a pair of hard hit balls.
The O's, who had two errors earlier in the game, did the little things right late to keep their season-long win streak going, improve to 48-51, and stay alive in the American League postseason race.
In regulation...
Trevor Rogers went 6 1/3 innings, allowed one earned run and seven hits while striking out a season-high eight and walking one, giving the O’s – who managed just two hits in nine innings, both by Dylan Beavers – a chance to win.
Beavers scored Pete Alonso on a double to right to give the Orioles a lead in the fourth. Alonso walked twice in the only other Baltimore offensive stat line of note.
Houston tied it at 1 on a Nick Allen sacrifice bunt against reliever Rico Garcia, who came on for Rogers in the seventh. Garcia had intentionally walked AL MVP candidate Yordan Alvarez to get to Allen.
The Astros’ Josh Hader struck out the side in the top of the ninth.
Tyler Wells came on for the O’s in the ninth for the second straight game. He got a hard save to close out Friday night’ series opener. This time he entered in a tie game and tossed a scoreless ninth, clinched by a skillful Taylor Ward snag of a would-be foul ball (almost caught by a kid in the seats) down the left field line.
Extra inning madness
Encarnacion-Strand, called up from Norfolk on Thursday to replace the injured Blaze Alexander, started at third and got his first hit as on Oriole at an opportune time.
In the 10th, he advanced automatic runner Taveras from second with a line drive that bounced off third base for a single. Jeremiah Jackson then laid down a bunt against Houston reliever Steven Okert to bring home Taveras to make it 2-1.
Allen laid down another bunt to lead off the bottom of the 10th, bringing up Alvarez again, who lined a slider for a double down the right field line against Andrew Kittredge to score rookie Lucas Spence from second to tie the score at 2.
Isaac Peredes hit a bouncer to third to load the bases with no outs. With an extra infielder (Taveras) on the dirt at second, Jose Altuve laid up a would-be winning sac fly to right-center, but O’Neill snagged it and threw out a diving Allen at the plate tagged on the head by Samuel Basallo.
“It was an unbelievable play," Orioles manager Craig Albernaz said after the game.
T.O. GETS 'EM AT HOME pic.twitter.com/01mPIxOJum
— Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) July 18, 2026
Kittredge fielded another bunt succesfully to keep the game tied. "That was a chaotic inning to navigate," Albernaz said.
Enyel De Los Santos walked Ward to start the 11th and struck out Alonso and Basallo. Then O’Neill hit a weak ground ball to second, and outran the ball and an Altuve throw to first and Henderson, the automatic runner, scored from second, running on contact.
Taveres drove in Ward with a single to right-center to deliver the final margin.
"There was a lot to like today," Albernaz said. "Really proud of the guys in that clubhouse."