BALTIMORE _ The Orioles took the field for Sunday's series finale against the Houston Astros in one of those "What are the odds?" situations that make baseball such an interesting sport.
When you give up 23 runs the night before and you're facing one of the best starting pitchers of his generation the next day, well, ending the weekend in the win column had to seem like an impossible dream.
It must have seemed like something even worse than that after the Orioles carried a lead into the ninth Sunday and let it get away, but they staged a three-run rally in the bottom of the inning to score an amazing, 8-7 victory before an emotionally drained announced crowd of 17,979 at Camden Yards.
No. 9 hitter Rio Ruiz saved them from one of their most deflating losses of a very deflating year when he crushed a two-run walk-off homer off Astros closer Roberto Osuna that landed on Eutaw Street and erased the two-run lead the Astros took against closer Mychal Givens just minutes before.
Of course, the odds said it never should have got to that point in the first place.
In the immediate aftermath of Saturday night's pitching meltdown, manager Brandon Hyde laid it all on the very broad shoulders of right-hander Asher Wojciechowski.
"We're in a tough stretch obviously, facing these guys again tomorrow, so we'll need a real nice start out of Wojo," Hyde said. "We need Wojo to step up and give us a really good start and we have a doubleheader on Monday. Not the easiest two days."
Quite a gauntlet to throw down on a pitcher with just 18 major league starts and a 6.06 career ERA. Shut down the team that scored an Astros-record run total and looks like the favorite to win the World Series.
Oh, and do it in a pitching duel with a former Cy Young Award winner who came into the game with a 15-4 record and a league-leading 2.68 ERA.
It didn't start particularly well. Wojciechowski was staked to a quick lead when Jace Peterson slapped a two-out RBI double in the first to score Trey Mancini, but the Astros struck right back with three runs in the second on another moonshot by shortstop Carlos Correa.
Correa hit a 474-foot shot Saturday night that, according to Statcast tracking data that dates to 2015, was the longest home run ever hit in a game at Oriole Park. It cleared both dugouts in left center field and the fans standing at the rail above them. Sunday's homer landed in the upper bullpen, a mere 426 feet from home plate.
But that would be the only run-scoring swing off Wojciechowski, who gave up just four hits and struck out five.
Hyde said before the game that he expected his hitters to be eager to face Verlander, and he was right. The Orioles grinded out at-bats so well that the Astros ace needed 109 pitches to get through five innings.
The Orioles chipped away at the early lead with a run in the bottom of the second on an RBI single by Mancini and tied the game when Pedro Severino doubled in the fifth and Jace Peterson hammered a long triple to center to tie the game.
Hanser Alberto followed with a sacrifice fly to give the O's the lead and Mancini padded it with another RBI single in the sixth.
It would come down to a battle of the bullpens, which didn't bode well for the Orioles after Shawn Armstrong relieved Wojciechowski and immediately gave up a run on a pair of no-out hits. But Paul Fry and Miguel Castro held the Astros in check and turned the game over to Givens to try an get the final four outs against the top of the Astros order.
That's when the Astros did what they had done for all nine innings Saturday night. Before reliever Mychal Givens could get an out, George Springer singled, Jose Altuve doubled and Michael Brantley lined a triple down the right-field line and circled the bases when it was misplayed by Anthony Santander.
It just wasn't to be ... or was it?
Peterson led off the bottom of the ninth with a double. Richie Martin grounded out, moving Peterson to third and Chance Sisco was hit by a pitch before Chris Davis hit a sacrifice fly to make it a one-run game when Ruiz stepped to the plate.
