The Orioles tied the game in the 9th, had a golden opportunity to win the game in the 10th, but ultimately fell to the Braves 3-2 in 11 innings.
Things truly felt like they lived and died on the outcome of a pivotal 10th inning. After Tyler Wells worked out of a two-on, nobody-out jam in the top of the 10th, Baltimore went to the bottom of the inning looking to walk off the Braves for the second game in a row.
With Manfred Man Sam Huff on second, Dylan Beavers started the inning with a walk that saw
Huff move to third on a wild pitch. Atlanta then chose to walk Pete Alonso to load the bases for Gunnar Henderson. The Orioles’ star SS only needed a fly ball to win the game, but instead lined into a double play at first. That put everything on Taylor Ward’s shoulders, but he could only pop up the ball behind first to send things to the 11th.
In the 11th, Austin Riley led off the top of the inning with a double to left that scored Atlanta’s Manfred Man Jorge Mateo. With the Braves up 3-2 in the bottom of the 11th, Coby Mayo opened the inning with a strikeout and Tyler O’Neill followed up with a groundout. Leody Taveras walked to keep the game alive and Atlanta chose to intentionally walk Jackson Holliday to face Huff. The O’s third-string catcher stung a ball to third, but Riley easily converted it into the final out to sink the O’s.
Baltimore came into the 9th down 2-1, looking to get the best of Braves’ All-Star closer Raisel Iglesias. The normally pinpoint Iglesias quickly fell behind 3-0 against Christian Encarnacion-Strand, fought back to 3-2, but ultimately walked the Orioles’ leadoff hitter. Tyler O’Neill then came to the plate representing the winning run, got ahead 2-0, but ended up striking out on a changeup low and in.
Then things really got crazy. With Coby Mayo pinch-running for CES, Leody Taveras grounded a would-be double play ball to Ozzie Albies at second. Instead, Albies did his best Bill Buckner impression, allowing the grounder to go through his legs and Mayo to go third with one out. Albies would somewhat redeem himself against Jackson Holliday, as the Orioles 2B sent a sharp grounder to his Braves counterpart that Albies snagged and fired to first for the second out.
The sharp defensive play possibly prevented the winning run in Taveras from scoring, but allowed Mayo to come home and tie the game at two. Jeremiah Jackson then had a chance for the O’s second 9th-inning walkoff in a row, but instead grounded out to send the game to extras.
The rally in the 9th was set up by a majestic home run from Pete Alonso in the 8th. With the O’s down 2-0 and one out, lefty reliever Dylan Lee hung a slider to Alonso, who blasted it 419 feet into the left field bleachers for his 22nd homer of the season. After the offense had struggled to deliver all game, the Alonso blast breathed belief back into Camden Yards.
The Orioles found themselves in that early hole thanks to a less-than-sharp Shane Baz and a suspect defensive performance behind their starter. Baz came into Sunday’s outing having not issued a walk in two consecutive starts, but that same level of command was absent against the Braves. Despite a leadoff single by Drake Baldin, the right-hander was able to work a scoreless first after Ozzie Albies lined into an unassisted double play at first and Matt Olson struck out on a 3-2 knuckle curve.
The Orioles’ defense let their starter down in the 2nd as the Braves got on the board first. Clean-up hitter Michael Harris II led off the inning with a single to center that skipped off the heel of Colton Cowser’s glove, allowing the Braves’ CF to move to second. Mauricio Dubón then lifted a fly out to center that allowed Harris to move to third with one out. With the Orioles’ infield drawn in, Dominic Smith slashed a single past Christian Encarnacion-Strand at the hot corner, bringing home Harris and giving Atlanta a 1-0 lead.
Baz would avoid any further damage in the 2nd after Austin Riley grounded into a double play, but you could tell early on that the 27-year-old wasn’t operating at the peak of his powers. The right-hander would work around another Baldwin single to post a scoreless 3rd, but through three innings he’d thrown 51 pitches and gone to a full count on five of the first 11 batters he faced.
That lack of command came back to bite Baltimore and Baz in the 4th. Olson led off the inning with a double off the right-field scoreboard after a Baz knuckle curve caught a little too much of the plate. Harris then won a seven-pitch battle with a productive groundout to first to move Olson to third. Dubón almost brought home Atlanta’s second run on a grounder to short, but Gunnar Henderson looked the runner back before firing to first for the second out.
That brought up Smith, who delivered yet again. The Braves DH lifted a fly ball to shallow left that, off the bat, looked very catchable. However, a false first step from Dylan Beavers forced him to attempt a sliding catch and the sinking fly ball bounced just under his glove for an RBI single. Baz would end the frame with a walk of Riley and a punch out of Mike Yastrzemski to leave the deficit at two runs.
After a 32-pitch 4th inning, Baz came back out for the 5th, sitting at 83 pitches. He’d get a quick ground out from Jim Jarvis, but after Baldwin reached again via walk, Craig Albernaz decided Baz’s afternoon was done. With a final line of 4.1 IP, 6 H, 2 R (1 ER), 2 BB and 2 Ks, it was the first start of the 27-year-old’s time with the Orioles where he failed to complete at least 4.2 innings.
Early in the game, the Orioles consistently failed to capitalize on the few scoring opportunities they had against starter Reynaldo López and the Braves bullpen. In the first, Pete Alonso reached on a worm-burning single through the right side and moved to third on a bloop two-out single by Taylor Ward. That brought up the scorching-hot Encarnacion-Strand, who only managed to lift a weak fly ball to right to strand both runners.
An inning later, No. 9 hitter Chadwick Tromp came up with one out, Colton Cowser at second and Jackson Holliday at first. However, instead of keeping the rally going, Tromp rolled a ball to short for a rally-killing 6-4-3 double play.
Baltimore would have another opportunity to put runs on the board in the 4th, but again it went by the wayside. Taylor Ward led off the inning with a well-placed single to center for his second hit of the afternoon. CES and Cowser couldn’t do anything to advance the leadoff base runner, with Encarnacion-Strand again flying out to right and Cowser going down on strikes. Leody Taveras almost ended the inning with a strikeout, but strike three skipped past Baldwin and allowed Taveras to reach. Holliday immediately wasted the opportunity, though, popping to left on a first-pitch curveball.
Until the 9th inning rally, the only unit that could truly hold their heads high was the Orioles bullpen. Left-hander Josh Walker relieved Baz in the fifth against Albies and proceeded to shut down the Braves’ 2 through 7 hitters to keep the game within reach.
Anthony Nunez took over in the 7th and, despite issuing two walks, picked up two massive strikeouts to post another scoreless inning. Albert Suárez entered in the top of the 8th for his first appearance since July 8th. In both the 8th and 9th, Suárez worked around a one-out walk to keep the Braves at bay and set the stage for the Orioles’ comeback.
