HOUSTON _ After Stevie Wilkerson drew the Orioles' first walk in 20 innings, rookie shortstop Richie Martin continued his improved hitting in a big way Saturday.
Martin's two-run home run off Houston Astros left-hander Reymin Guduan provided some much-needed insurance in the Orioles' 4-1 victory.
A half-inning earlier, the Astros had the go-ahead run at the plate in star infielder Alex Bregman. But Miguel Castro, the hard-throwing 24-year-old right-hander who took a 5.57 ERA with him to Minute Maid Park's mound despite eight scoreless innings across his previous four outings, got him to ground into a fielder's choice to end the threat. He then set the Astros down in order in the ninth for his second save of 2019 and first since April 2 as the Orioles evened the series entering Sunday's finale.
After Orioles right-hander Andrew Cashner and Houston lefty Framber Valdez did not allow a runner past first through five innings, both teams struck for single runs in the sixth.
Hanser Alberto led off the eighth with a double and went to third when Trey Mancini's fly ball into right field found grass before bouncing into Derek Fisher's glove. Alberto broke for home on Renato Nunez's grounder to third, a questionable decision that at least allowed the Orioles stay out of a double play. It seemed they wouldn't be so fortunate when Astros second baseman Tony Kemp stopped Pedro Severino's hard grounder with a diving stop, then flipped to shortstop Jack Mayfield for a force at second, but Mayfield's back-end throw went past first baseman Yuli Gurriel for an error that allowed Mancini to score the go-ahead run.
Nunez's power stroke had temporarily cooled, as his five straight games without a home run was his longest homerless stretch in nearly a month. He ended that drought and one for the Orioles' offense with his sixth-inning solo shot, a blast that left his bat at 108 mph and went a projected 413 feet, per Statcast.
It was Nunez's 16th, a mark only six American Leaguers had passed entering Saturday. The homer also gave the Orioles their first run since Friday's third of 11 innings when Chance Sisco homered in the same direction but with not nearly the distance. Between the solo shots, Orioles batters were 5 for 46 with 18 strikeouts and no walks.
At last backed with a run, Cashner surrendered two singles to begin the sixth, matching the number of hits he allowed in the prior five innings, to put Astros on the corners. After holding the runner at third on a fielder's choice, Cashner threw a hanging slider to Gurriel, who hammered it toward right-center field for what seemingly was destined to be a go-ahead three-run homer.
But Anthony Santander was there waiting for it, leaping at the wall and firing to first to double off Michael Brantley as Mancini managed to keep his foot on the bag. Fisher held back, tagged up and scored from third as Santander's play left Gurriel with a game-tying sacrifice fly.
It was Cashner's last of 87 pitches in his home state; his six one-run innings gave him a quality start after allowing 11 runs in 10 innings in his previous two outings.
