Pete Alonso homered and Christian Encarnacion-Strand had four hits, including a tie-breaking RBI double in the top of the ninth inning, to lead the visiting Baltimore Orioles to an 8-7 victory against the St. Louis Cardinals Wednesday night.
The Orioles, who led 7-0 after Alonso’s 32nd homer in the second inning, blew the lead but still came out on top to remain on the fringe of the crowded American League wild-card race and send the Cardinals to their fifth straight loss.
Samuel Basallo led off the top of the ninth with a soft opposite-field single through the left side against Cardinals closer Riley O’Brien (3-6).
O’Brien threw a wild pitch to advance pinch runner Luis Vazquez to second base, and Encarnacion-Strand lined a 2-2 pitch for a hard double to right-center, breaking the 7-7 tie.
The Cardinals created some action against Andrew Kittredge in the bottom of the ninth. Ivan Herrera led off with a single, and Alec Burleson lasered a grounder that Encarnacion-Strand knocked down at first base for a putout.
Kittredge pitched around Jordan Walker for a walk, and second baseman Jackson Holliday likely prevented the tying run from scoring with a diving stop on Nathan Church’s grounder deep in the hole.
With two runners in scoring position and two outs, Jose Fermín popped out to Holliday.
Left-hander Grant Wolfram (5-2) pitched a scoreless eighth for the Orioles, who go for the series sweep Thursday afternoon.
Leody Taveras hit a three-run homer to cap off a first inning where Baltimore scored all five of its runs with two outs. Alonso’s homer was his second in as many nights and fourth in seven games.
St. Louis’ Nolan Gorman hit a solo homer in his second game back after being recalled from Triple-A Memphis.
Bryan Torres led off the fifth against Kyle Bradish with a single, and JJ Wetherholt and Herrera followed with one-out walks to load the bases.
Burleson smacked a two-run single to center, and Walker lined an RBI double that made it 7-4.
Church then blooped a two-run double and stole third base. Fermín followed with a run-scoring chopper to short, capping the six-run inning and tying the game at 7.
Bradish allowed seven runs, nine hits and two walks over 4 1/3 innings. Cardinals starter Michael McGreevy gave up seven runs on 10 hits over five innings, walking two and striking out three.
