WASHINGTON _ The Orioles came back to Nationals Park on Wednesday hoping to shock a playoff contender for the fourth straight time, but the Washington Nationals did not cooperate.
The O's had won the final two games of last weekend's series against the Tampa Bay Rays to push them out of the first and second American League wild-card slots, then followed that up with an unlikely shutout victory over the Nationals on Tuesday night that chiseled a game off the Nats' NL wild-card lead.
Obviously, the Nats were not amused, because they came out swinging on Wednesday night and salvaged a split of the two-game interleague series with an 8-4 victory before an announced crowd of 25,174 in the nation's capital.
Orioles starter Asher Wojciechowski allowed five runs in the bottom of the first inning and only made it through four. Reliever Richard Bleier got knocked around in the fifth, rendering a pair of middle-inning home runs by Chance Sisco and Chris Davis meaningless.
This all happened on a night when Nationals ace Max Scherzer needed 89 pitches to get through just 4 1/3 innings, but the Orioles could only make him pay for two of them. Anthony Santander put the O's on the scoreboard with an RBI double in the third and Sisco greeted Scherzer with a solo home run to lead off the fifth before a pair of infield hits prompted Nats manager Dave Martinez to go to his bullpen.
Wojciechowski struck out the first batter he faced in the first inning, but the next six consecutive batters reached base in a rally that featured a two-run triple by left fielder Juan Soto and a two-run homer by catcher Kurt Suzuki.
Suzuki would also deliver a key hit during the Nats' three-run eruption in the fifth, driving home two more runs with a double that was the fourth consecutive hit off Bleier.
Bleier left the game at that point and exchanged angry words with O's third base coach Jose Flores as he entered the dugout.
The pitching highlight of the night came from rookie right-hander Dillon Tate, who pitched 1 2/3 hitless innings in his fifth major league appearance.
Tate struggled in his first three outings, allowing seven earned runs in six innings, but pitched three scoreless innings on Friday night against the Rays and allowed just a walk on Wednesday night before retiring five straight batters.
Right-handers Gabriel Ynoa and Tayler Scott also delivered scoreless relief outings.
