Orioles lose, 4-3, on Coby Mayo’s error in 9th to drop finale vs. Marlins

MIAMI — With a chance for the sweep, the Orioles let one get away. A throwing error by third baseman Coby Mayo allowed Javier Sanoja to walk off Baltimore in the bottom of the ninth inning and salvage a 4-3 win for the Miami Marlins on Thursday. The Orioles (17-21) trailed for most of the night and tied the game in the eighth on an RBI single by Pete Alonso, but Andrew Kittredge’s defense failed him in the ninth after the bullpen pitched five scoreless innings in relief of injured starter Cade Povich.

Marlins catcher Joe Mack doubled off Kittredge with two outs to bring up Sanoja, who hit a ground ball to Mayo at third. Mayo bobbled the chopper that greeted him with an in-between hop, and he recovered in time to make the throw, but he threw the ball in front of Pete Alonso, and the first baseman couldn’t pick it. The Marlins jumped out to a quick two-run lead in the first on a home run by catcher Liam Hicks and former Oriole Connor Norby tacked on another off Povich with an RBI single before the left-hander was pulled from the contest with left forearm discomfort.

But the Orioles scored a run in the third when Gunnar Henderson’s single up the middle drove in Mayo and pulled to within one an inning later when Samuel Basallo doubled and scored on a base hit by Tyler O’Neill. It remained a 3-2 game until the eighth when Taylor Ward walked and moved to second on a single by Dylan Beavers. Though a better read would’ve allowed Ward to get to third, Alonso made sure it didn’t matter by driving him with an RBI single that extended his hitting streak to eight consecutive games.

The Orioles had plenty of chances to put up more runs. Alonso struck out with the bases loaded in the third and hit a deep fly ball that died at the warning track in his next at-bat. They also had runners on first and second with no outs in the eighth after Alonso’s game-tying single, but Basallo grounded into a double play, and O’Neill flew out to end the threat.