Tied after nine innings of baseball, the Orioles and Rays each turned to a member of their bullpen to try and keep the other team from scoring. For the Rays, it was Bryan Baker. Baker has transformed himself into a leading closer this year, posting a 1.55 ERA and a league-leading 34 saves. His last 21 appearances have come in Rays wins. For the Orioles, it was Cam Sanders. In 2025-26, Sanders made 15 appearances for the Pirates with an 8.44 ERA and 15 walks in 16 innings. The Orioles claimed him on
waivers on July 13th. Which pitcher would you take?
Baker started the 10th inning against his former team with free (and pinch) runner Colton Cowser at second base. He was facing the top of the order, which naturally meant Tyler O’Neill. O’Neill was hitless to that point, but he came through in extras. Baker gave him a 96 mph fastball and O’Neill served it right back up the middle for a single. Cowser scored and the Orioles were back on top, 4-3. Pete Alonso followed with a single, but Baker stopped the bleeding after that. (If you were watching and worried about Alonso’s apparent injury on this hit, Craig Albernaz said after the game that his calf was cramping and it’s not serious.)
Then it was Sanders’s turn. The bushy-bearded four eyes somehow already has two saves for the Orioles. Sanders got the first out on a line drive to center field that made me glad it was Cowser out there, then issued a walk to make things dramatic. But he came back and struck out Cedric Mullins and Richie Palacios to end the game. Orioles win, 4-3! Cam Sanders 1, Bryan Baker 0.
The game started, of course, with Kyle Bradish. He gutted through six innings without his best stuff tonight. His command was off; he was very hittable. Still, he got it done when he needed to and held the Rays to just two runs in six innings. It might have only been one run if not for a throwing error by Carlos Narváez.
Bradish started off pretty well. He worked around a single in the first and after a 1-2-3 second inning was sitting at just 19 pitches. That gave the Orioles the chance to take an early lead. In the second inning, Gunnar Henderson singled with one out. After Christian Encarnacion-Strand flew out, it was up to the bottom of the lineup to bring Henderson home. I am beginning to see why it’s not ideal for him to bat fifth.
But the bottom of the lineup came through. After Christian Franklin worked a walk, Leody Taveras singled through the 5.5 hole to bring Henderson home. Narváez couldn’t keep it going, though, and ended the inning with a ground out.
The Rays got that run back in the bottom of the third. It was an eventful inning! Richie Palacios doubled to left field to start things up, followed by a Taylor Walls single. Tyler O’Neill fired past the cutoff man to the plate and Palacios stayed at third. Walls tried to take the extra base on the throw, but Narváez fired back to second and Henderson tagged him out. He was called safe, but it was overturned on review.
Any goodwill Narváez had on that play was blown moments later. Palacios was dancing off third base and came down a little too far. Narváez fired to third to nab him, but the ball went sailing into left field. Palacios scored easily to tie the game at one.
Bradish kept the Rays off the board in the fourth and fifth innings, but he certainly did not keep them off the bases. He started the fourth with a walk and a single, but wriggled out of it. In the fifth, he issued his second walk of the game.
The Orioles took the lead in the fifth thanks to Alonso. He thought he had ball four on the fifth pitch of the at-bat, but the umpire called him back to the plate with strike two. On the next pitch, he hit his 27th home run of the year. Another opposite-field shot. Bet they wish he’d gotten that walk!
Christian Encarnacion-Strand followed Alonso’s lead in the top of the sixth. He launched a 2-2 changeup deep into the left field stands. It gave the Orioles a 3-1 lead and was their last run scored in regulation. As we know, it wasn’t enough.
Bradish started the sixth inning by walking Liam Hicks. Now is a good time to point out that both the Orioles and Rays lost their ABS challenges early in the game, meaning the second half of the game was played old school. And the umpire was terrible. He was equal-opportunity awful to both teams. In the Hicks walk, the first and third pitches of the at-bat were in the strike zone. But there was nothing they could do, since Narváez and O’Neill both made poor decisions earlier in the game. So Hicks took first.
Two groundouts moved Hicks to third, but got Bradish one out from getting out of trouble once again. Both outs were excellent defensive plays from Encarnacion-Strand and Henderson. Old friend Cedric Mullins didn’t strand the runner, though, with a classic Mullins triple to right-center field. That made the score 3-2. Bradish issued another walk, but got out of the inning on a line drive out to second base.
That was it for Bradish. His final line: 6 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 4 BB, 3 K. As I said, he gutted it out and left the game with the Orioles in a position to win.
Over the next three innings, the Orioles’ bats went silent. After starter Ian Seymore exited, Casey Legumina came in and dominated. He pitched two perfect innings with four strikeouts. They also didn’t score off Cam Booser, meaning it was up to Andrew Kittredge to get the one-run save. He was not up to the task.
Things started off well for Kittredge. Palacios and pinch hitter Victor Mesa Jr. lined out, then Yandy Díaz golfed a low slider into center field for a single. Another old friend, Jorge Mateo, came on as a pinch runner. For a good team, the Rays sure do have a lot of ex-Orioles.
Jonathan Aranda singled to put runners on the corners, and it looked like Kittredge got the ground ball he needed. The dangerous Junior Caminero hit a soft grounder to third. Encarnacion-Strand charged the ball, gloved it, and then lost it. Argh! It was ruled a hit, but looked like an error to me. The tying run scored. The next batter popped out on the first pitch, but the damage was done. Off to extra innings we went, where Sanders outdueled Baker for the win.
With this win, the Orioles have pulled into a tie for the final AL Wild Card spot with three other teams: Toronto, Texas, and Detroit. The Twins just lost to the Phillies to fall a half-game back, and the Rangers just got underway against the A’s in Sacramento. When we wake up tomorrow, the Orioles will either be in a tie for the final spot with the Blue Jays and Tigers, or they will be a half-game back of the Rangers. This was a truly wild paragraph to type.
So, Camden Chat, who was your Most Birdland Player of the game? Cam Sanders? Pete Alonso? Someone else? Let us know in the comments.
