masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgWASHINGTON – The challenge was immense and hardly discreet. To beat the Nationals, the Orioles would have to go through Gio Gonzalez, Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg in the first three games. This is baseball’s equivalent of swimming through the shark cage with a salami hanging from your neck.
With three outs to go tonight, the Orioles appeared to have made it to the other side without a scratch. Strasburg was positioned for the loss. Brad Brach just needed to hold a two-run lead with…

WASHINGTON – The challenge was immense and hardly discreet. To beat the Nationals, the Orioles would have to go through Gio Gonzalez, Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg in the first three games. This is baseball’s equivalent of swimming through the shark cage with a salami hanging from your neck.

brad-brach-white.jpgWith three outs to go tonight, the Orioles appeared to have made it to the other side without a scratch. Strasburg was positioned for the loss. Brad Brach just needed to hold a two-run lead with Darren O’Day unavailable.

The Nationals drew blood.

Former Oriole Matt Wieters lined a two-run single to right field with the bases loaded and one out to give Washington a 7-6 walk-off victory before an announced crowd of 32,984 at Nationals Park.

The Orioles’ winning streak ended at six games and they fell to 8-2 in one-run affairs. They’re now 22-11, including 2-1 versus the Nationals as the home-and-home series concludes on Thursday.

Donnie Hart got a popup and double play after inheriting a runner from Mychal Givens in the seventh to preserve a 6-2 lead. Alec Asher inherited a runner in the eighth, struck out two batters, served up Michael A. Taylor’s two-run homer and struck out another batter.

Brach began the ninth by allowing a home run to Jayson Werth on the 11th pitch of the at-bat. He never recovered from it.

“It was tough,” he said. “Looking back at it, I threw some really good pitches. He got the upper hand there toward the end and just was able to drive one out to right-center field.”

Bryce Harper followed with a double to left field. Ryan Zimmerman bounced to the mound, but Daniel Murphy was walked intentionally after getting ahead 3-1, and Anthony Rendon singled to load the bases. Wieters won it on the next pitch, his third hit of the night.

“Once again, I thought I made good pitches to (Harper), too,” Brach said. “That’s what he gets paid to do there, too. Put the ball the other way, hit it where it’s pitched. He did a good job with that. Had a good at-bat against Zimmerman. Murphy, I was kind of being careful because I knew there was an open base there. Kind of making my pitches, seeing what was going to happen.

“The big at-bat, though, was Rendon. I had him 0-2 there and could have maybe thrown some other pitches and just threw a fastball where I didn’t want to put it and he singled there.

“Obviously, Wieters, I thought I threw a good pitch. It’s tough facing a guy you threw so many innings to. He kind of knows everything, sees everything you’re throwing. He put a good swing on it.”

Brach is going through a bad period. He didn’t give up a run in his first 11 appearances, but he’s allowed eight runs in his last seven innings. He allowed 18 runs in 2016.

“I think just not throwing fastballs down in the zone,” he said. “I think earlier in the year I was kind of getting away with some pitches that maybe (had) a little bit more life on my fastball and now just kind of leaving it up and just not executing when I need to. And falling behind, walking guys.

“I think that was the big key to Werth was I fell behind there and had to come back in the zone, and he got to see everything that I threw. Unfortunately, when you have 11-pitch at-bats against guys like him, he’s going to take advantage of it.”

Said manager Buck Showalter: “Werth put a really good at-bat on him. He made some good pitches, finally got a ball he could do something with. A lot of good hitters over there. There’s no breathing room in the lineup.

“Taylor’s home run hurt us a little bit, but our guys did a good job against Strasburg. We’ve seen three good pitchers, see another one (A.J. Cole) tomorrow night. Wade waded his way though, a lot of pitches, they made him grind,” Showalter said. “Just couldn’t quite get those last two outs. We kind of got done to us what we did to them. It’s part of the game. “

Brach leads the club with eight saves in Zach Britton‘s absence. He’s failed to convert two of them.

The ninth inning does have a different feel for Brach.

“I think it’s just the pressure you put on yourself,” he said. “I’ve been trying to do my best to not think about the inning. I just think it’s more so just not really executing more than anything else. I’m just kind of falling behind a lot of these guys and that’s (not) doing myself any favors.

“No one is going to feel sorry for you. Tomorrow they’re going to expect you to get outs. What I’ve got to do is have a short memory, forget about it, go out there tomorrow and get the outs.”

“You’d like to say all of the 24 other outs are that way,” Showalter said, “but we all know there’s a sense of finality with it. Brad’s done a good job with it for us, it just wasn’t there for him tonight.”

Mark Trumbo and Manny Machado homered for the Orioles, who were trying for their first seven-game winning streak since June 22-29, 2016, and their first 23-10 start since 1970. They fell two outs short.

Wade Miley didn’t get in the way of any line drives tonight. He allowed two runs and five hits in five innings, with four walks and five strikeouts. His 119th and last pitch resulted in Rendon’s liner to Trumbo.

“Definitely a grind,” he said. “I had plenty of opportunities. I put myself in some pretty deep counts early in the game and then just didn’t make pitches or execute and the next thing you know, you’re 3-2, and you have to make a really good pitch, and end up walking a guy.

“They’re a great lineup over there, a tough lineup to finagle through. There aren’t a lot of mistakes to be made without them making you pay for it. I’ve just got to do a better job getting deeper in ballgames.

“Our bullpen picks us up all the time. They’re picking us up the last two games. I need to do a better job, get them out on (fewer) pitches.”

Miley has allowed 52 baserunners in 36 2/3 innings. However, he’s surrendered only 10 runs for a 2.45 ERA.

Don’t try this at home. Or on the road.

The Nationals loaded the bases with no outs in the fifth and settled for one run. Zimmerman struck out with the count full and Murphy grounded into a force at second base.

“That’s an unbelievable lineup over there,” Miley said. “That’s a great ballclub and they’re not really a chasing team. They’re making you get outs on the plate or make pitches appear to be strikes before they swing at them. They do a good job of that. My misses were never strikes.”

The Orioles wasted a leadoff double by Seth Smith and an Adam Jones walk in the first inning, but they weren’t as generous in the second.

Jonathan Schoop was hit by a pitch, J.J. Hardy singled and RBI machine Caleb Joseph blooped a run-scoring single to right field. Miley reached on a bunt single to load the bases and Smith flied to deep left-center field to score Hardy.

Jones poked an RBI single into right field, and the Orioles led 3-0.

Strasburg retired nine of the next 10 batters with six strikeouts, but Chris Davis singled with two outs in the fifth and Trumbo launched his fourth home run, the ball traveling 461 feet per Statcast.

Wilmer Difo pinch-hit for Strasburg in the sixth. Strasburg allowed five runs and eight hits in six innings, with two walks, nine strikeouts and a home run. He threw 100 pitches, 68 for strikes.

Machado homered off Blake Treinen with two outs in the seventh inning to increase the lead to 6-2.

Showalter wasn’t going to use O’Day tonight.

“We ask these guys to be real honest with us, and Darren would have pitched if we would have pushed him. We’re not going to do that,” Showalter said. “I didn’t like the risk factor where Darren was involved tonight.”

Asked what’s different about Brach lately, Showalter replied, “Not a whole lot different stuff-wise, just command in a couple spots. He put together a few good sequences. Brad will be all right. He’s good at this. Tonight a very good club just got him.”

An ex-teammate got him at the end.

“All those guys, they have such a deep lineup,” Showalter said. “Any time you have Matt Wieters hitting eighth, you know what kind of lineup you’ve got. Matt’s a good man. I’m not going to be a big fan of it tonight, but there’s part of you, as a guy that’s been around, you know that he can rise to those occasions.”

Did it feel especially good for Wieters to beat his old team?

“No, other than the fact that they kicked our butts there and it was time to come back and try to get a win,” he said. “That’s the thing, the competition is what I enjoy, so anytime they beat you, you want to come back and beat them. That’s why we all play the game.”