BALTIMORE -- The Orioles may not make it into the postseason, but Pete Alonso is doing everything in his power to keep his team alive in the final week of the regular season.
Alonso clubbed his 39th and 40th homers of the season on Monday night to lift Baltimore to a series-opening 4-3 win over Toronto at Camden Yards. The 31-year-old slugger’s second blast of the night was a go-ahead two-run shot with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning.
The O’s (76-81), who have five games still to play in the regular season, are 4 1/2 games back of the White Sox (80-76) for the third American League Wild Card spot, though they are also behind the Astros (77-79) and Blue Jays (77-80).
It would take an improbable run for the Orioles to reach the playoffs. But don’t tell Alonso that.
The Polar Bear continues to carry Baltimore, which overcame a 3-0 first-inning deficit to win. Alonso’s first home run of the night was an opposite-field solo shot to the right-field flag court in the bottom of the first.
Gunnar Henderson’s solo home run in the sixth cut Toronto’s lead to 3-2.
With a runner on first and two outs in the bottom of the eighth, the Blue Jays inserted right-hander Tyler Rogers to face Alonso. After Alonso worked the count to 1-1, he pounced on a sinker left over the heart of the plate and jolted it a Statcast-projected 400 feet over the left-field wall.
Alonso became the ninth hitter in O’s history (since 1954) to hit 40 or more homers in a season.
By driving in three more runs, Alonso boosted his AL-leading RBI total to 108. No other player in the AL has more than 99.