The Orioles changed back into their street clothes and filed out of the clubhouse today knowing that they didn’t squander another late lead against the Braves.

They never took one.

Pete Alonso hit his 22nd home run in the eighth inning to awaken the offense and the crowd, and an unearned run with two outs in the ninth forced extra innings. The Orioles couldn’t score in the 10th after loading the bases with no outs, and the Braves went ahead against Andrew Kittredge in the 11th in a 3-2 victory before an announced crowd of 25,032 at Camden Yards.

Tyler Wells stranded two runners in the top of the 10th, but the Orioles couldn’t close the deal and fell to 51-55. They’re 2 1/2 back for the last Wild Card with four teams ahead of them.

Backup catcher Sam Huff grounded out against Tyler Kinley with two outs and the bases loaded to end it. An intentional walk brought him to the plate, and he’s now 4-for-33 this season. Huff and Chadwick Tromp are a combined 1-for-24 since Samuel Basallo joined Adley Rutschman on the injured list.

“It’s one of those things where you battle injuries all year and guys have to step up, either guys that are taking over that position or other guys on the team,” said manager Craig Albernaz. “Like I said before, when we had injuries before, no one feels bad for us, no one feels sorry for us. We have to keep on moving along, and our guys have to figure out a way to compete and go out thee and win.”

“They’re doing a phenomenal job calling pitches and a great job defensively back there,” Alonso said. “They’re doing everything and more than what’s being asked of them. They’re not being asked to be Sammy. They’re not being asked to be Adley. What they’re doing is, they’re calling a great game, giving professional at bats, and that’s really all you can ask for.

“We’re not trying to replace people. ‘Hey, you got to be someone you’re not.’ They’re doing a phenomenal job. Those guys understand the role. They’re true high-quality professionals, and they’ve done a phenomenal job with the pitching staff, the game calling defensively back there. It’s been top tier. So, they’ve been phenomenal for us in their role. They’ve been doing everything and more.”

Dylan Beavers tried to lay down a bunt against Danny Young in the 10th and drew a walk on a wild pitch. Alonso was given an intentional walk, and Gunnar Henderson lined to first baseman Matt Olson, who stepped on the bag. The Orioles challenged the double play call and lost.

Taylor Ward ran the count to 3-1 and popped up to Olson in shallow right field.

“In a close game like that, there’s a lot of stuff you can go back to,” Albernaz said. “But yeah, with the bases loaded right there, that line drive double play hurt a lot.”

Alonso took the blame despite his many contributions today, including outstanding plays in the field.

“I just should have took a shorter lead,” he said. “I thought I was pretty close to the bag, but it turned out that it still needed to be shorter. Yeah, that’s really tough. Not being able to cash in there, that obviously was a huge blow.

“I definitely feel this was on me. Big time. Big time missed opportunity because of misjudgement on my part.”

He wasn’t done.

“Matt’s one of the best. I think he’s like a three or four-time Gold Glover for a reason. He’s one of the best defensive first basemen in the last 10-year span, so there’s no ceiling on his capabilities. But regardless of his capabilities, I need to … honestly, I should have just been standing on the bag, just like Little League.”

Asked about the impact of the catching injuries, Alonso replied, “I mean like today, we have who we have. And we’ve got to find a way. Today we didn’t get it done, and I think a big part of that is because of my mistake in the 10th inning.”

Austin Riley greeted Kittredge with an RBI double. The Braves loaded the bases with one out and couldn’t extend their lead.

Alonso walloped a two-strike slider from Dylan Lee in the eighth, sending it 419 feet to left field at 109.4 mph after the Braves had retired 14 of 15 batters.

“When you’re getting shut out pretty much the whole game, it’s still a two-run game,” Albernaz said. “At some points it felt like the separation was larger, but Pete, putting the ball in the seats, now you’re within one and now you can just scrap and claw to see if you can get another one. So that was a huge swing from Pete.”

Raisel Iglesias walked Christian Encarnacion-Strand leading off the ninth, and Leody Taveras’ routine ground ball with one out scooted through second baseman Ozzie Albies’ legs. An easier play might never come to him.

Albies made a diving stop of Jackson Holliday’s grounder as pinch-runner Coby Mayo scored the tying run.

Shane Baz turned in his shortest start with 4 1/3 innings in his first career appearance against the Braves. He allowed two runs (one earned) and six hits and came out after 90 pitches.

A one-out walk in the fifth necessitated the change, and Josh Walker retired the next two batters. Walker also tossed a scoreless sixth.

Baz created some of his own issues, but the defense also hurt him.

Albies lined into a double play after Drake Baldwin’s leadoff single in the first, but Baz wasn’t as fortunate in the second. Michael Harris II hit a leadoff single, raced to second base after Colton Cowser bobbled the ball and scored on Dominic Smith’s one-out single.

Another double play limited the damage.

Baz didn’t have a clean inning. Baldwin singled with two outs in the third. Olson led off the fourth with a double and scored with two outs on Smith’s RBI single to left field, where Beavers broke back before coming in for the sinking liner.

“I feel like that was probably as bad as I’ve been all year, just not being in the zone 0-0,” Baz said. “That lets them see that many more pitches. I just felt like my command wasn’t great today. Probably could have thrown a few more fastballs, I feel like.”

The bullpen was solid again today. Anthony Nunez walked two batters and threw a wild pitch in the seventh but escaped the jam with back-to-back strikeouts of Albies and Olson. Albert Suárez made his first appearance since July 8 and tossed two scoreless innings.

Cowser was in a 2-for-36 slump before his leadoff single in the second. The Orioles put two runners on base and Chadwick Tromp grounded into a double play.

Ward led off the fourth with a single and Taveras reached with two outs on a strikeout/wild pitch, but Holliday flied out.

Encarnacion-Strand singled with two outs in the sixth, the final batter for starter Reynaldo López, and pinch-hitter Tyler O’Neill flied out against Dylan Dodd.

López allowed five hits and struck out six in 5 2/3 scoreless innings.

The Orioles ran out of challenges by the third inning, got one back in extras and lost it, too.

Another roadblock for a team trying to bust through them before it’s too late.

“It was a hard-fought series on both sides. All three games could have gone either way,” Albernaz said of the trio of one-run games against a first-place team. … It’s one of those things where, yeah, moral victory, but also, we want the real victory.”

Said Alonso: “Great fight, great collective effort. But if you look outside the box score, there’s things that we need to get better on. I know we’re late in the year, but every series loss… like yes, this one hurts. But every one hurts. It doesn’t matter what time of the year. They all count the same. This counts the same as the one that happened in June, same as one in April. But every single one of them collectively, it doesn’t feel good. Especially when you know you’re within reach of winning games.”

Are the Orioles running out of time?

“The month is still July,” Alonso said. “I mean, we still have, I don’t know, a couple days left here in this month. I think we have four games left, and we have two whole months of baseball, which is which is a lot of time. It is, but it isn’t. Take that how you will. But I think for us, minimize mistakes and play clean baseball.

“We’re way better than what our record shows, but we’ve given a lot of stuff away collectively through mistakes and what have you throughout the year. So that’s why our record is what it is. But we have the ability to go on a run. We have the ability to do damage and win a lot of games. We have that ability. We just need to execute and do that.”

Pozo in place

The Orioles put Yohel Pozo on the catcher taxi squad this morning, which might hint at an upcoming roster move.

Or he’s just on the taxi squad. You never really know about these things.

Left-hander Cade Povich and catcher Silas Ardoin weren’t added to the roster after joining the team in Boston.

Pozo was selected off waivers from the Cardinals on Thursday and optioned to Triple-A Norfolk. He’s a career .247/.273/.363 hitter in 106 games, the first 21 with the Rangers in 2021. He didn’t get back to the majors until last season with St. Louis.

“I was excited to come here,” he said. “It was weird because I went to the seven-day waiver, so the first six days nothing happens and this move happened like literally the last day.”

Pozo also can play first base, and he’s 8-for-32 with three doubles, a home run and nine RBIs as a pinch-hitter.

Minor league promotions

Left-hander Luis De León and right-hander Juaron Watts-Brown are moving up to Triple-A Norfolk.

Infielders Wehiwa Aloy and Victor Figueroa, right-hander Joe Glassey and lefty Caden Hunter are moving up to Double-A Chesapeake.

Infielder Félix Amparo, catcher Andrés Nolaya, right-hander Christian Rodriguez and lefty Stephen Still will join High-A Frederick.

Also down on the farm

High-A Frederick left-hander Boston Bateman, the organization’s No. 6 prospect according to MLB Pipeline, exited today’s game in the first inning with right hip flexor discomfort.

Bateman threw eight pitches in his first start since July 17, when he came out of the game with left triceps tightness.

Figueroa had three hits and an RBI. His OPS is .914.

Heston Kjerstad homered twice to give him eight this season with Triple-A Norfolk, and he finished with four RBIs. He’s batting .299 with a .796 OPS.

De León allowed one run and struck out nine in 6 1/3 innings.

Infielder Luis Almeyda, 20, was reinstated from Class A Delmarva’s injured list earlier today and put on a planned game progression. Almeyda received a $2.3 million signing bonus in 2023, a club record at the time. He’s been slowed by a variety of injuries and began today hitting .217/.315/.325 in 166 minor league games.