The Baltimore Orioles have not lost since the All-Star break, and on Saturday they needed 11 innings and one soft ground ball to keep it that way. Baltimore beat the Houston Astros 4-2 in Houston for its sixth consecutive victory, the club’s longest winning streak since a run from May 30 to June 5 of last year.
The go-ahead run came the way most of them have during this stretch, without a home run. With two outs in the 11th of the series game in Houston, Gunnar Henderson scored from second on Tyler O’Neill‘s two-out infield single, and Baltimore added an insurance run to turn a 2-2 tie into a 4-2 lead. Cam Sanders retired the side in order in the bottom of the inning for the first save of his major league career.
The bullpen had to earn it first. Andrew Kittredge inherited a bases-loaded, nobody-out jam in the 10th after Yordan Alvarez’s tying double and stranded all three runners, the kind of escape that decides one-run games in July. Starter Trevor Rogers set the tone with 6 1/3 innings of one-run ball and a season-high eight strikeouts, extending a stretch in which he has allowed one earned run or fewer in four straight starts.
The uncomfortable part is that Rogers’ form is exactly why this streak may not change Baltimore’s deadline math. At 48-51 and nine games back in the AL East, the Orioles are closer to sellers than buyers, and Rogers, with a 0.74 ERA over his last four outings, is the most movable arm on the roster before the Aug. 3 deadline. Six straight wins is the best baseball Baltimore has played all season. It also raises the asking price on the pitcher other teams most want to pry loose.
Fantasy managers should ride Rogers while both the form and the uncertainty last; a pitcher this locked in is a strong two-start streamer even with a possible change of scenery on the horizon. Sanders is a speculative add in deep hold leagues after his first career save, but Baltimore’s ninth-inning picture is unsettled, and Kittredge remains the steadier bet for the next true high-leverage spot.
