One-run game, but skid extended as Braves beat O's (updated)

Coming into this contest against the Atlanta Braves, the Orioles had not played a game decided by one run since they beat Detroit 4-3 on July 30. During a long losing streak, they had lost every game by two or more runs. Mid-game tonight they were locked in a tight game, but would it still be that way at the finish?

It would remain close, and after leading by one early in the game and trailing by one in the fifth, the Orioles went to the ninth down 5-3.

Anthony Santander's second homer of the game - the O's fourth solo shot - pulled Baltimore within 5-4. But the game ended with that score and the losing streak has reached 17 games.

Atlanta scored four runs in 5 1/3 innings off right-hander Matt Harvey and won its eighth in a row, beating the Orioles by 5-4 in front of 15,774 at Oriole Park.

The Orioles (38-84) have been outscored 146-46 during the losing streak, which matches a 17-game streak by Arizona in June for longest in the majors in 2021. It now ties for longest in the American League since Seattle dropped 17 in a row in July 2011.

There were five homers hit in the first five innings tonight, which ended with Atlanta leading 4-3.

In the Orioles first, Ryan Mountcastle extended his hitting streak - currently the longest in the majors - to 13 games with a solo shot for a 1-0 lead. He hit a full-count fastball on the eighth pitch 415 feet to center for his 21st of the year. It was also his 20th over his last 76 games.

No. 21 moved Mountcastle into a tie for seventh all-time on the single-season homer list among O's rookies. Cal Ripken Jr., with 28 in 1982, holds the top spot. Jim Gentile also hit 21 in 1960. Next up on the list for Mountcastle is a trio of O's rookies that hit 22 - Curt Blefary in 1965, Sam Bowens in 1964 and Ron Hansen in 1960.

That 1-0 lead held until Atlanta scored twice off Harvey in the top of the third. With one out, he walked Jorge Soler and then hit Freddie Freeman. After recording the second out, he could not put up a zero when Dansby Swanson doubled in two runs for the lead on a first-pitch fastball.

An inning later, the Atlanta lead grew to 3-1 on a Joc Pederson leadoff home run. He hit No. 15 on a 1-2 fastball up in the zone and the Braves led by two runs.

But back-to-back homers in the O's fourth off lefty Drew Smyly tied this game at 3-3. Santander's solo shot to left came on a 2-2 curveball as he hit No. 11. When Ramón Urías hit No. 7, the game was tied. He went to right-center for his homer hit 398 feet off a 1-1 fastball.

The homers kept coming however, as Atlanta went back ahead in the fifth. Austin Riley hit No. 27 and the Braves took a 4-3 lead off Harvey with two down in the inning.

Harvey gave up seven hits and the four runs with a walk and five strikeouts. He threw 97 pitches. He has allowed 14 earned runs in 19 innings over his last four starts, after throwing 18 1/3 scoreless innings over three starts coming out of the All-Star break. He is now 6-13 with a 6.27 ERA.

First-place Atlanta (67-56) is now 15-2 its last 17 games and extended a franchise-record road winning streak to 12 games in a row. It's the longest road win streak in the majors this year and longest in the majors since Cleveland won 14 straight on the road from Aug. 28-Sept. 21, 2017. The Braves are 36-27 on the road for the year and now 6-0-1 their last seven road series.

Down 4-3 in the eighth, the O's got two-out singles by Trey Mancini and Austin Hays to put runners on the corners. But Luke Jackson fanned Pedro Severino on a slider to end the threat. The Braves added an insurance run in the ninth on a Soler sac fly for the two-run lead and that proved very big.

Santander's homer in the ninth got the O's close and was his fifth career multi-homer game and second of this year. Tonight were his first two homers hit right-handed this season.

But the Orioles have scored only 17 runs the last nine games and 27 in their past 12 games.

In relief tonight, right-hander Marco Diplán recorded another scoreless outing for the Orioles. He pitched two hitless innings and has an ERA of 0.00 over 11 innings in his first seven major league games, allowing just two hits. He has given up one unearned run.

But the O's came up short and need a win Sunday to avoid a three-game sweep by the Braves. Lefty John Means (5-5, 3.44 ERA) faces right-hander Touki Toussaint (2-2, 4.01 ERA) at 1:05 p.m. at Camden Yards.

O's manager Brandon Hyde on the team battling today: "You know, Santander hit a home run and we tried to get some more there (in the ninth). We felt like we were in the game and did like the way we battled back. Just not enough."

Hyde on getting two longballs from Santander: "I think the day off yesterday did him good. He felt good today. That was the two best swings I've seen him take right-handed in a long time. That was definitely a positive to see Tony square up two balls like that."

Mountcastle on the losing streak: "It's not easy. Losing isn't fun. I mean, it's tough, but you have to keep moving forward, keep working hard every day. That's all you can do."

Harvey on whether the team is making progress the last two nights or is a loss a loss?: "We played well. We played well tonight, unfortunately they came out on top. When you're in a streak of bad games like we are, everything kind of intensifies. I think we played really good tonight and they just happened to beat us in a long streak of losses."