Orioles news: The O’s survived a near-meltdown

The Orioles just can't make things easy, can they? What should have been a second straight breezy blowout win over the Cardinals turned into a cardiac-inducing affair, a game that saw the O's fritter away a 7-0 lead and nearly suffer what would've been perhaps their most agonizing loss of the season. Thank goodness for Christian Encarnacion-Strand , who played the hero with a tie-breaking double in the top of the ninth, and the Orioles' bullpen, which delivered 4.2 innings of scoreless relief after Kyle Bradish 's fifth-inning meltdown. Check out Stacey's recap of the barnburner in St. Louis. It was a doozy of a humdinger.

There was a lot to like about last night's game. The Orioles' offense was clicking on all cylinders early, especially in the clutch, putting up a five-spot with two outs in the top of the first. Pete Alonso continued to do Pete Alonso things with an opposite-field dinger. As mentioned, the bullpen, which is made up of more castoffs than I'd like, held the line. There are elements here that make you think, You know, maybe the Orioles could make the playoffs after all.

And then there's all the ugly stuff that makes you think, Nope, not a chance. The aforementioned Bradish blew a seven-run lead and looked visibly fatigued, perhaps because he's thrown more than 140 innings this year after tossing just 71 in the last two seasons combined. Craig Albernaz did him no favors by leaving him in at least two batters too long. The O's also had a notable defensive misplay — Dylan Beavers failing to catch a "double" that plated two runs — and Gunnar Henderson continued to struggle so much that the Cardinals intentionally walked Alonso to face him with two runners aboard in the eighth, and of course he meekly grounded out.