Christian Encarnacion-Strand’s fourth hit drives in Orioles’ winning run

ST. LOUIS — This had all the makings of a disaster. A blown lead. A critical chance gone by in the eighth inning.

And then Christian Encarnacion-Strand, a castaway-turned-key contributor, came to the plate with pinch runner Luis Vázquez on base. In a two-strike count, right-hander Riley O’Brien spun a sweeper that slid off the plate. Encarnacion-Strand managed to stay through the ball and drove it into right-center field, scoring Vázquez and ensuring the Orioles would not suffer what might’ve been their worst loss this season.

Baltimore enjoyed a seven-run lead by the top of the second inning. That slipped away all at once in the fifth inning as right-hander Kyle Bradish ran into trouble.

But Encarnacion-Strand, traded to the Orioles for cash in April and subsequently optioned to the minors for a few months, continued his strong second half. He recorded a season-high four hits, and his final one handed the Orioles an 8-7 win against the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday night.

“He’s been huge ever since he got here,” right-hander Andrew Kittredge said.

In the ninth, Samuel Basallo recorded a leadoff single and Vázquez took second on a wild pitch. He scored easily on Encarnacion-Strand’s gapper.

“I’ve gotten to watch Christian since college do this,” said Jackson Holliday, whose uncle, Josh, coached Encarnacion-Strand at Oklahoma State. Holliday and Encarnacion-Strand used to fish together when Holliday was a teenager. Now they’re major league teammates.

“Just his demeanor and approach has always been very steady and very professional,” Holliday continued. “When you have the ability to hit the ball all over the field, kind of like Pete [Alonso], it opens up a lot of room for error, and for him to be able to just stay on a sweeper, smoke it in the gap, sinker comes in, he can turn on it. It’s a lot of fun to watch.”

In the eighth, however, the Orioles threatened and came up short. A sequence in that inning offered a glimpse at two things. One, Alonso is red-hot and nobody wants to face him. Two, opponents would much rather face Gunnar Henderson than Alonso, even if means using a right-handed reliever against the left-handed hitter.

That’s the choice the Cardinals made in the eighth, once Colton Cowser led off with a single and reached third on a Carlos Narváez sacrifice bunt and a Holliday groundout. The Cardinals intentionally walked Alonso rather than having a man who had already homered in consecutive games beat them again.

Henderson, against right-hander George Soriano, chopped the second pitch of the at-bat to the shortstop for a forceout that ended the inning.

At this time of year, however, how the Orioles win means less than the fact they won. Baltimore is 65-68; still, the club is only 2.5 games back of the final American League wild-card spot.

The Cleveland Guardians’ lead in the wild-card hunt would have grown if the Orioles had continued their collapse.

The Orioles might have still fumbled this one in the bottom half of the ninth, had Holliday at second not saved the game with a diving stop to his left.

Kittredge entered for the save situation, and he admitted to not feeling his sharpest. With two on and one out, Nathan Church pulled a ball that looked destined for right field. If it had gotten past Holliday’s diving reach, the tying run would’ve scored.

“Huge. I think we’re still playing, probably, if not losing that game,” Kittredge said.

“I think, if I don’t stop it, they probably tie the game and go into extras, and home teams have a pretty distinct advantage when you do so,” Holliday added.

Instead, the Orioles sealed a series win in a game that was a roller coaster.

In the blink of an eye, the Orioles unraveled in the fifth inning. It wasn’t a crisp outing from Bradish before the fifth, either; he danced out of trouble in multiple innings. But in the fifth he fell apart swiftly, and manager Craig Albernaz didn’t pull him in time to prevent it.

A single, a flyout, and two walks to follow.

“I just think it comes down to those two walks,” Bradish said. “I just need to be more competitive in the zone, and then whatever happened after that happened, but I think it comes down to those two walks.”

Then came a mound visit from pitching coach Drew French to attempt to settle down the laboring starting pitcher. The breakthrough came, however, with Alec Burleson’s two-run single.

Jordan Walker, who won the Home Run Derby in July, instead chopped a ball that looked suspiciously foul. It bounced in fair territory, then its high bounce took it over third base. The ball landed in foul territory beyond the bag, but the umpire deemed the ball had passed over the bag — meaning it was fair.

The resulting double scored another run, and it couldn’t be reviewed. MLB’s rules distinguish that fair and foul calls can be challenged only if the ball lands for the first time beyond the first or third base umpire. Walker’s ball bounced in the infield first, meaning the call on the field would stand regardless.

Bradish had one more batter to face. He forced Church to lift a fly ball toward the left-field line, and Dylan Beavers charged toward it. Beavers, sliding, couldn’t catch it. The ball landed fairly for another two runs.

“Talk to Beavers, he’d say he [should] make that play, but it’s a tough play for him,” Albernaz said. “But, [if] he catches that ball, who knows the situation?”

That would be it for Bradish, who allowed nine hits. Another run charged to him came home after Church stole third and scored on a groundout with right-hander Alex Hoppe on the mound.

Just like that, in one half inning, the Orioles’ mighty lead was gone.

Bradish allowed a season-high seven runs. That included a solo homer from Nolan Gorman in the second inning before the fifth-inning mess.

“They fought off some tough pitches, and they put some tough pitches in play that found some holes and just kind of kept the inning going,” Albernaz said.

This appeared to be a game well on its way to matching Tuesday’s blowout. The Orioles jumped out to a lead in the first inning through a two-out rally against right-hander Michael McGreevy that began with a single from Henderson and Basallo’s walk.

It kept going with three straight run-scoring hits. Encarnacion-Strand and Beavers drove RBI singles, and Leody Taveras cleared the bases with a three-run home run.

The second inning brought more of the same. Alonso, serving as the designated hitter for the sixth time in his last 10 games because Albernaz said he wants to keep the star fresh, showed there’s no issue with his bat. He clubbed his 32nd homer of the season — a two-run shot to put the Orioles ahead 7-0.

“Offense is swinging it,” Kittredge said. “Pete’s so hot right now, kind of carrying us, but other guys are falling in, and back-to-back nights of just coming out the gates hot and putting a lot of runs on the board. You’ve got to like where we’re at.”

The Orioles didn’t like where they were at after the fifth inning, however. It lingered until Encarnacion-Strand continued his heroics since being called up in July to replace the injured Blaze Alexander.

To win in the major leagues, it takes a wide-ranging cast. Encarnacion-Strand is quickly turning from understudy into a star.

This article has been updated.