WASHINGTON — Ryan Mountcastle hit a tying homer and the Baltimore Orioles beat the Washington Nationals 4-3 on Tuesday night to gain ground in the American League wild- card race.
The Orioles moved within five games of Tampa Bay for the final wild-card spot. The Nationals have lost four in a row and six of their last seven to fall a season-high 44 games under .500 at a majors-worst 49-93.
Mountcastle led off the fifth with his 22nd homer, a shot to right-center off former Orioles prospect Hunter Harvey (1-1) to tie it at 3. Gunnar Henderson then doubled, went to third on Ramón Urías’ single and scored on Austin Hays’ bloop double.
Baltimore’s Dean Kremer (7-5) allowed three runs in five-plus innings, yielding eight hits while striking out one. Félix Bautista worked around a leadoff walk in the ninth for his 13th save in 14 attempts.
Bautista has retired 33 of the 38 batters he has faced since surrendering a home run to Boston’s Xander Bogaerts on Aug. 21.
Baltimore opened the scoring in the first on Henderson’s RBI single. The Nationals tied it in the bottom of the inning on Luis García’s run-scoring double, then went ahead on Luke Voit’s RBI single and García’s RBI grounder in the third. The Orioles cut it to 3-2 when Cedric Mullins grounded into a double play in the fourth.
Washington starter Cory Abbott allowed two runs and struck out three in three-plus innings.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Orioles: 2B Rougned Odor, who left Sunday game after being hit on the right hand, was available to pinch hit. … RHP Rico Garcia cleared outright waivers and was assigned to Triple-A Norfolk.
Nationals: Manager Dave Martinez said LHP MacKenzie Gore (elbow inflammation) would throw a bullpen session Wednesday with the hopes of making another rehabilitation start Friday. Gore threw 1 2/3 scoreless innings Sunday for Triple-A Rochester.
UP NEXT
Orioles RHP Tyler Wells (7-6, 3.91 ERA) will make his second start Wednesday night since returning from the injured list as the two-game series concludes. Nationals LHP Patrick Corbin (6-18, 6.30) leads the majors in losses.
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