The Baltimore Orioles beat the New York Mets 2-1 Monday as Gunnar Henderson homered off Dedniel Núñez in the top of the eighth inning to break a 1-1 tie and give Baltimore the lead for good.
Henderson's 23rd home run, a fly ball to right center field, capped a tight low-scoring game in which neither team scored in four consecutive innings after the Mets tied it in the fourth. Baltimore had taken a 1-0 lead in the second when Heston Kjerstad's double to right scored Jackson Holliday, but New York answered in the bottom of the fourth on A.J. Ewing's 10th home run. Henderson's go-ahead shot off Núñez in the eighth was all the Orioles needed.
Henderson finished 1-for-4 with the decisive blow. Kjerstad went 2-for-4 with the RBI double, and Holliday was 2-for-4 with a run scored. On the mound, Brandon Young gave Baltimore five solid innings, allowing one earned run on five hits while striking out six. Yennier Cano earned the win with 0.1 innings of relief, and Rico Garcia recorded the save with a scoreless ninth. For New York, starter Jonah Tong threw six shutout innings with six strikeouts but was not in line for a decision.
The win improves Baltimore to 73-78, though the Orioles remain 3.0 games back of the final American League wild-card spot with little margin for error down the stretch.