Pete Alonso kept Baltimore’s fading postseason hopes flickering Monday night, hammering his 39th and 40th home runs of the season to power a 4-3 comeback win over Toronto at Camden Yards.
The Orioles trailed 3-0 after the first inning, but Alonso set the tone immediately with an opposite-field solo shot to the right-field flag court in the bottom of the first. He wasn’t done there. In the eighth, with the game still hanging in the balance and two outs on the board, Alonso delivered again - this time a go-ahead two-run blast that turned the night around for Baltimore.
The Blue Jays brought in right-hander Tyler Rogers to face him with a runner on first and two outs in the bottom of the eighth. Alonso worked the count to 1-1, then jumped on a sinker that leaked over the heart of the plate and sent it a Statcast-projected 400 feet over the left-field wall.
Gunnar Henderson had already helped chip away at the deficit, launching a solo homer in the sixth to pull Baltimore within 3-2.
The win moved the Orioles to 76-81 with five games left in the regular season. They remain 4 1/2 games behind the White Sox, who hold the third American League Wild Card spot at 80-76, and they are also trailing the Astros at 77-79 and the Blue Jays at 77-80.
Even with the odds stacked against them, Alonso kept the pressure on. His latest milestone also put him in rare Orioles company, as he became the ninth hitter in franchise history since 1954 to reach 40 home runs in a season.
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