Cade Povich and three relievers combined on a five-hitter and the visiting Baltimore Orioles beat the Washington Nationals 2-1 on Thursday night to salvage the finale of the three-game series.
Ryan O’Hearn and Cedric Mullins provided RBI-singles for Baltimore, which had lost three straight.
After a rough stretch for their starting pitchers, the Orioles got a second straight solid start and made it pay. Povich (1-2) allowed a run on four hits over 6 2/3 innings. He struck out five and walked one.
Keibert Ruiz reached on an infield hit with one out against closer Felix Bautista in the ninth. Pinch runner Nasim Nunez stole second and advanced to third on a ground out, but Bautista got Ahmed Rosario to ground out to earn his third save.
Washington starter MacKenzie Gore (2-3) gave up two runs on four hits over six innings. He struck out eight and walked one.
Josh Bell had an RBI-single for the Nationals, who had won four of five and open a four-game series against the Eastern Division-leading New York Mets on Friday.
Ryan Mountcastle walked leading off the Baltimore second and Jordan Westburg singled, but Gore struck out Heston Kjerstad, got Ramon Laureano to fly out and fanned Ryan O’Hearn to end the threat.
The Nationals took a 1-0 lead in the second when Rosario doubled and scored on Josh Bell’s line-drive single to center.
In the Baltimore fifth, Laureano doubled with one out and scored when O’Hearn sliced an opposite-field single to left. O’Hearn went to second on the throw home and scored to make it 2-1 when Mullins ended a nine-pitch at-bat by grounding a single to center.
After Bell reached on an error with two outs in the seventh, Yennier Cano came on to retire the streaking Dylan Crews.
Washington reliever Cole Henry hit Jackson Holliday to start the eighth. Holliday later stole second, but Henry struck out Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson.
