Ramon Urias drove home Carlos Correa with a fielder’s choice grounder in the bottom of the 12th inning as the Houston Astros outlasted the visiting Baltimore Orioles 5-4 on Saturday.
Urias beat out a potential inning-ending double play by the Orioles, plating Correa in the process. Baltimore reliever Keegan Akin (4-3) loaded the bases with an intentional walk of Christian Walker before Urias came to bat.
Astros right-hander Enyel De Los Santos (4-3) earned the win with two perfect innings of relief. The Orioles finished 0-for-14 with runners in scoring position.
Baltimore utilized a pair of two-run home runs to rally from an early three-run deficit. Dylan Carlson smacked his sixth homer of the year in the top of the fifth inning before Jackson Holliday delivered his two-run blast — and 15th homer of the season — in the eighth following a leadoff walk from Carlson.
Holliday knotted the score at 4-4 with his 381-foot shot to right field off Astros reliever Bennett Sousa. Baltimore threatened again in the ninth when Dylan Beavers stroked a leadoff double off Astros reliever Bryan Abreu for his first-career hit in his big-league debut.
Abreu, though, rallied to strike out the side and strand Beavers at third base.
Orioles left-hander Cade Povich, who entered in the second inning after opener Rico Garcia worked a scoreless frame, matched his career high of 10 strikeouts over five innings.
But Povich allowed an RBI single to Mauricio Dubon in the second and loaded the bases with no outs in the fourth before Jacob Melton and Correa had consecutive RBI singles for a 3-0 Houston lead.
After the Orioles closed to within a run, Jose Altuve smacked his 22nd home run of the year in the seventh off Kade Strowd to double the advantage to 4-2.
Astros right-hander Jason Alexander produced his third consecutive quality start and entered the top of the fifth inning vying for his third scoreless appearance in succession.
Alexander allowed his first hit with one out in the third when Carlson smacked a triple to right-center field, but he immediately erased Carlson when he fielded a sharp grounder from Holliday and initiated a successful rundown of Carlson between third base and home plate.
Alexander recorded consecutive fly-ball outs to open the fifth before surrendering a single to Daniel Johnson. Carlson followed with his second home run of the series, a 385-foot blast to right field that sliced the Astros’ lead to 3-2.
Alexander rallied by retiring the final four batters he faced, three via strikeout, and allowed two runs on three hits with six strikeouts over six innings.
–Field Level Media
