Chris Davis stepped into the Petco Park batter’s box in the top of the eighth inning on Tuesday with three strikeouts in his three at-bats on the day, 14 strikeouts in 16 hitless at-bats on the three-city road trip and 18 straight at-bats without a hit. He began the road trip with a .192 batting average, his highest after a game since the end of 2017, but he came to the plate hitting .178.
Naturally, he proceeded to hit the tiebreaking home run in the Orioles’ 8-5 victory over the San Diego Padres, supplying the lead that led to a winning road trip and Baltimore’s first month without a losing record since August 2017. The home run off San Diego left-hander Matt Strahm was Davis’ eighth of the year, first since July 5 and first off a left-handed pitcher since he homered off former teammate Zack Britton on August 24 of last year. With a distance projected by Statcast of 417 feet, it was Davis’ longest home run of the year.
Davis’ home run came on an 0-1 slider from Strahm, turning it around and sending it over the center-field fence to break a 5-all tie and give the Orioles (36-71) their first lead against the Padres this season in any inning other than the first. The victory allowed Baltimore to avoid a four-game series sweep (including two losses to San Diego in late June) and finish July with a 12-12 record after entering the month with 24 wins.
Baltimore added another two runs in the eighth inning as Trey Mancini, one of a handful of Orioles who are candidates to be traded by Wednesday’s 4pm deadline, delivered a two-run single as the Orioles rallied back from a 4-0 deficit. Mancini exited on a double switch before the bottom of the eighth.
Fernando Tatis Jr.’s leadoff home run off Orioles starter Tom Eshelman was his second in as many days, making the 20-year-old the youngest player in history with leadoff homers on consecutive days. Two batters later, former Orioles infielder Manny Machado homered off Eshelman. It was the Padres’ 16th home run against Orioles pitching, setting a record for the most home runs by any team in a season series of four or fewer games.
Wil Myers nearly added the 17th after Eric Hosmer singled, doubling off the right-field wall to bring in another run off Eshelman. After getting out of the first, Eshelman, a native of nearby Carlsbad, allowed one run over the next three innings. A single by Machado in the third helped the Padres (50-57) load the bases, and the Orioles couldn’t convert Francisco Mejia’s one-out grounder into a double play as a run came home.
Then, the resiliency the Orioles have shown in the past month carried into their final game of July. Jace Peterson scored Mancini with an opposite-field single, and Richie Martin brought two more Orioles home with a bases-loaded single up the middle after Davis struck out for the inning’s second out.
The Padres added another run in the fifth via an error and two infield singles, and a review confirmed the latter after Davis made a diving stop at first but bobbled the ball before tossing it to pitcher Gabriel Ynoa covering the bag. Renato Nunez tied the game with a two-run single off Strahm in the seventh, setting the stage for Davis to provide the lead an inning later. Shawn Armstrong entered in the eighth and completed a six-out save. Orioles closer Mychal Givens, another trade candidate, was not used, but he pitched three times from Thursday to Sunday and allowed a run in each outing.

Astros blank Indians
In Justin Verlander, the Indians on Tuesday ran into a buzzsaw of a momentum killer in a 2-0 loss to the Houston Astros. Not entirely unlike how the Indians seemed to hit a brick wall last October against the Astros in the American League Division Series, Verlander locked down the Indians’ lineup and the Houston lineup did enough against Shane Bieber to make it hold up.
Verlander (14-4) was at the top of this Cy-Young-level self, striking out 13 across seven innings and allowing only two hits. In his seven innings, the Indians went three-up, three-down five times.
Bieber (10-4) didn’t start quite as sharp, allowing a few hits up the middle in the first inning alone, but he was able to keep pace with Verlander on the scoreboard. That was until the fifth inning, when the Astros broke the scoreless deadlock.
Astros catcher Robinson Chirinos, the No. 9 hitter on Tuesday night, provided all the offense the Astros would need no one swing with a solo home run that cleared the wall in right-center field. As soon as it left the bat, Bieber crouched on the mound in frustration, knowing it was gone.
The Astros (69-39), via a former friendly face at Progressive Field, then added an insurance run. Jose Altuve doubled to left field and was followed by former Indians outfielder Michael Brantley, who roped a single to right field to score Altuve. Tyler Naquin made a strong, diving effort to take the run off the board and came close enough that the Indians challenged the play, but it was a challenge that they lost.
The Indians came away with only two singles against Verlander. Their fortune against the Astros bullpen wasn’t much better. Will Harris relieved Verlander in the eighth and came away with a 1-2-3 inning of his own that included two strikeouts. In the ninth, Roberto Osuna (24 saves) closed the door and didn’t have much more trouble putting the Indians’ offense away for good.
Tuesday’s game was the beginning of a difficult month-long stretch for the Indians (62-44).