The Baltimore Orioles rallied past the Toronto Blue Jays 4-3 Monday as Pete Alonso's 40th home run of the season, a two-run shot off Tyler Rogers in the bottom of the eighth inning, gave Baltimore a lead it would not relinquish.
Toronto struck first and struck hard, plating three runs in the top of the first on an RBI single by Nathan Lukes, a run-scoring single by George Springer, and a sacrifice fly from Sean Keys to build a 3-0 lead. Alonso answered immediately with his 39th homer of the season in the bottom half to make it 3-1. The Orioles chipped away further when Gunnar Henderson hit his 24th home run in the sixth to cut the deficit to one, setting the stage for Alonso's decisive blow in the eighth, which scored Christian Franklin and put Baltimore ahead 4-3 for good.
Alonso finished 2-for-4 with two home runs and three RBI. Henderson went 3-for-4 with a home run and an RBI. On the mound, Shane Baz worked 6.2 innings, allowing three runs on five hits with two strikeouts. Yennier Cano earned the win with 1.1 scoreless innings, and Rico Garcia closed it out with a perfect ninth for the save.
The win moves Baltimore to 76-81 on the season, still 4.5 games back of the final American League wild-card spot with the postseason window nearly shut.