Machado home run gives O's 8-7 win in 12th (MRI on Britton's knee)

This isn't the Miracle on Ice. More like the Wonder on Wednesday, or perhaps the Glory on Grass.

This is the Orioles winning a series after taking the opener and squandering a five-run lead today. Call it whatever you want, I'm sure there were a few choice words flying from the stands.

Zach Britton blew his first save opportunity in two years as the Athletics fought back to tie the game in the ninth inning, but Miguel Castro stranded a runner on third base in the top of the 10th and Manny Machado led off the 12th with a home run to give the Orioles an 8-7 win over the Athletics before an announced crowd of 20,072 at Camden Yards.

Machado connected off Simon Castro, the ball barely clearing the left field fence and giving the Orioles their ninth walkoff win of the season. His 28 home runs lead the club.

Miguel Castro, removed today from the bereavement list, was the fifth reliever used out of a six-man bullpen and he responded with 3 2/3 scoreless innings. Darren O'Day had worked the past three nights - throwing five, 10 and 15 pitches - and he began to stretch in the bottom of the 10th.

Jeremy Hellickson, scheduled to start Friday in Boston, was warming in the 12th.

The Orioles, now 10-2 in extra innings, are in a bind with Chris Tillman a sixth starter and a four-man bench including three non-catchers who can't be optioned.

Rule 5 outfielder Anthony Santander was the last available position player as the game moved into the evening hours. Welington Castillo and Ryan Flaherty were removed. No idea who would have served as the emergency-emergency catcher, a thought that crossed my mind when Caleb Joseph took a foul ball off his mask in the 12th.

Castillo hit a two-run homer off reliever Daniel Coulombe in the sixth inning, Chris Davis added a solo shot off Ryan Dull in the eighth and the Orioles improved to 62-65 after winning their first series since a three-game sweep of the Royals on July 31-Aug. 2. The lockers weren't covered in plastic, but it qualified as a big deal to a team that slipped to 4 ½ games behind for the second wild card.

The Orioles could have ended it in regulation. Castillo singled off Chris Hatcher to open the bottom of the ninth and he moved up on pinch-hitter Seth Smith's single. But Tim Beckham, Machado and Jonathan Schoop struck out to push the game to extras, both teams with seven runs, 12 hits and no errors.

Matt Joyce hit a two-run homer off Mychal Givens in the eighth following the dreaded leadoff walk to reduce the lead to 6-5. The Orioles were ahead 6-1 after the sixth, but why would anyone expect it to be easy?

Givens retired the next two batters, but Richard Bleier walked Matt Olson on four pitches and Brad Brach walked Matt Chapman. Bruce Maxwell struck out, and Britton - ignored in the eighth inning with two left-handed hitters up - entered the game with a chance for his 12th save. He had converted 60 opportunities in a row, an American League record.

Britton hadn't failed since Sept. 20, 2015 at Tropicana Field, but Jed Lowrie led off with a single, Boog Powell doubled and Marcus Semien grounded an RBI single into left field. Joyce followed with a sacrifice fly to center field to tie the game.

Britton retired only one batter, with manager Buck Showalter removing him after a wild pitch and walk. Castro walked Ryon Healy to load the bases, but he retired Matt Olson on a pop up and got a called third strike on Matt Chapman.

Castro stranded Maxwell at third base in the 10th after a leadoff double and grounder.

Davis homered with two outs in the bottom of the eighth, his 20th this season and 124th at Camden Yards to tie Rafael Palmeiro for second all-time behind Adam Jones, who leads with 135. A nice insurance run that became an absolute necessity.

Trey Mancini broke a scoreless tie with a three-run homer in the fourth inning, Dylan Bundy worked into the seventh and the Orioles seemed to be cruising toward a win. They eventually got there, with many bumps along the way.

Bundy registered his 17th quality start and fourth in a row. He was charged with three runs and seven hits in six-plus innings, with no walks and eight strikeouts.

Bundy hasn't issued a walk in two of his last three outings.

Five of the last six batters reached against Bundy, with Olson's RBI single reducing the lead to 6-2 and bringing Givens into the game with runners on the corners and no outs. Maxwell singled with one out to reduce the lead to 6-3, but Lowrie and Powell struck out.

The Orioles sent nine batters to the plate in the fourth inning against Daniel Gossett, who was recalled earlier today from Triple-A Nashville. They scored four runs and collected six hits, beginning with one-out singles by Schoop and Jones.

Mancini followed with a three-run shot to center field for his fourth hit in eight at-bats. The slump appears to be history.

The rookie has 22 home runs and 65 RBIs this season.

Mark Trumbo walked with two outs, Castillo singled and Flaherty delivered a run-scoring single - his first hit since May 18 and first RBI since May 14.

Beckham reached on an infield single, but Castillo took a wide turn around third and was tagged out in a rundown.

Beckham also singled in the first and doubled in the seventh and has a hit in 20 of 22 games with the Orioles, thirteen are multi-hit. He wasn't bunting in the ninth with first and second and no outs.

Gossett had retired 10 in a row before Schoop's single.

Powell led off the top of the first with a single off Bundy. No one else reached base until Semien singled with one out in the fourth.

Working again on extended rest, Bundy retired 16 of 17 batters after the Powell single. Powell reached with two outs in the sixth on a line drive that nicked the glove of a leaping Machado, and he scored on Semien's double to reduce the lead to 4-1.

Bundy was an easy return for the seventh at 82 pitches, but he couldn't record an out and left to a standing ovation.

Castillo's 14th home run of the season came on an 0-2 pitch and prevented the Orioles from stranding Mancini after a leadoff walk and wild pitch. It also gave them a 6-1 lead.

It didn't last, of course.

More drama unfolded, but the Orioles finally won a series. They're off Thursday and play a weekend series in Boston before returning home.

Update: Britton will undergo an MRI on his left knee on Thursday to determine the cause of some discomfort that he's been dealing with, and that's caused Showalter to be more cautious with him.

Britton has made two trips to the disabled list with a strained left forearm.

Here's Showalter:

On winning the series: "Hard-fought game. I knew, these day games like this, it's a challenge. And Dylan was real good, Miguel was real good. And Mike got us out of a jam there in the seventh inning. A lot of little things, you can go back and dissect that game forever, but bottom line is we scored one more than they did in same number of innings."

On Britton's blown save: "It's a reminder how hard it is to do. I just called him in my office and congratulated him. You won't see it again. And he does hold the record in my mind, OK? It's historical. That's as good as you'll ever see in any of our lifetimes. It's special and it's been an honor to watch him do it. I think days like today, the skill level of the teams he's facing, it's unbelievable to dominate in a role like that. It just doesn't happen."

On rarity of having to take Britton out in middle of the inning: "It's another reminder of how great he's been and will be again. There's a part of me that's kind of glad he's got it behind him and we won the game. That's a heck of a thing to have to live up to every time you cock your arm. And he's special. Like I said, it's been an honor to watch him pitch. And I get to keep doing it. But we did a lot of things in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings that are not conducive to holding onto a lead."

On whether he considered four-out save for Britton: "No. He's got some other things that he's dealing with, so I'm trying to stay away from that. There's a lot of things we know that people don't know."

On importance of Castro: "It's allowed us to stay on our feet, whether we're going to have to make a pitching move now or not. At least he provided some length for us. But we had two or three walks we just can't do. We normally don't, but we did today."

On emergency-emergency catcher if Joseph hurt: "Angel (Hernandez) asked him how he was and he said, 'I don't have a choice. I have to be OK.' We had a guy ready to catch. Obviously, Flaherty was out of the game. We got a guy on the team who's caught a lot when he was 12 or 13 or 14. That's the challenge you have with our bench the way it is right now."

On Bundy benefitting from extra rest: "Some people go in the other direction. I'm really hoping and thinking with Wade (Miley) yesterday that our guys respond well to it. I'm hoping that's going to be the case now. We've got some people pitching now on extra rest. I just don't think they get that much out of whack when they pitch into July.

"I think it's something early in the season you don't like. Then again, I get to see all the work Dylan does between those appearances. He's a guy that was in a pretty good groove for a guy who hasn't pitched in 9 or 10 days. But you have to be willing do the work to in between to be ready.

"I'm pretty proud of him today. That was pretty impressive in a time of need. I wish we could have gotten him a W out of it."