BALTIMORE -- Top of the ninth inning. Two outs. Runner on second base. One-run game.

In that tense situation, this was the matchup taking place at Camden Yards late Sunday afternoon: Orioles left-hander Danny Coulombe, with zero saves in 232 previous big league games, vs. Marlins All-Star leadoff hitter Luis Arraez, with an MLB-best average still hovering close to .400.

Baltimore’s winning streak was in serious jeopardy. And nobody wearing orange in the ballpark wanted to see Arraez stepping into the batter’s box at that critical moment.

With All-Star relievers Yennier Cano and Félix Bautista unavailable (both pitched each of the previous two days), Coulombe rose to the occasion, getting Arraez to line out to left field to finish out a 5-4 win for the Orioles, who notched their season-high eighth straight victory. It’s Baltimore’s longest winning streak since a 10-game run from July 3-13, 2022.

The O’s (57-35) now trail the first-place Rays (60-36) by only one game in the American League East following another nail-biter that resulted in their 16th one-run victory.

“It got a little too dicey there at the end,” said manager Brandon Hyde, who has rarely gotten the comfort of watching blowout victories by Baltimore this season.

Coulombe knows Arraez well, as they were teammates in Minnesota from 2020-22. After the game, Hyde said he considered intentionally walking Arraez (who is hitting .380) and having Coulombe face either Nick Fortes or a Marlins pinch-hitter.

Coulombe almost took a different approach.

“He’s such a tough at-bat,” Coulombe said. “I’ve seen him a million times, I’m like, ‘You know what, maybe just throw it right down the middle and see what he’s going to do with it, because he’s not going to swing and miss.’”

Arraez then swung and missed at a pair of sinkers from Coulombe on the second and fourth pitches of the at-bat, making the count 2-2.

“I was like, ‘Huh, what’s going on here?’” Coulombe joked.

The final pitch of the game was an outside 92 mph sinker that Arraez slapped the opposite way to left field. But the ball landed safely in the glove of Austin Hays, allowing many of the 30,761 fans in attendance to breathe a sigh of relief.

After winning two away games vs. the Yankees and sweeping three on the road vs. the Twins to end the first half, the Orioles came strong out of the All-Star break by sweeping the Marlins for the first time since the clubs first met in 1997.

“This team, it never quits,” said Coulombe, a 33-year-old southpaw who has a 2.90 ERA over 39 appearances in his first year with Baltimore. “Guys step up. It’s just a really, really good team, really young, and it’s just going to get better.”

Sunday could have brought a devastating loss to halt Baltimore’s momentum if the team had blown it late, especially with how well the team played while building a 5-0 lead over the first eight innings.

The Orioles tagged Marlins left-hander Steven Okert for three runs in the first, opening the inning with back-to-back doubles from Gunnar Henderson and Adley Rutschman and a two-run homer by Anthony Santander, the 100th home run of his seven-year big league career.

Meanwhile, starter Kyle Bradish stayed on “cruise control,” as Hyde put it. The 26-year-old right-hander became the first Orioles starter this season to pitch into the eighth, as he gave up only three hits, one walk and a hit-by-pitch while striking out eight over 7 1/3 scoreless innings.

Bradish primarily relied on his slider, sinker and four-seam fastball early, before mixing in his curveball more the second and third times through Miami’s order. It didn’t really matter what he threw, because he had everything working as he continued an impressive stretch for a Baltimore rotation that has a 2.12 ERA during the eight-game win streak.

Through Bradish’s first 17 outings of the season, he owns a 3.05 ERA, the best among Orioles starters. He has a 1.41 ERA over his past six starts.

“Going into it, I knew I had to go deep into this game just because [Cano and Bautista] weren’t available,” said Bradish, who hasn’t allowed a run over his past 15 1/3 innings. “But we have other guys in the bullpen, so I didn’t have a problem handing it over.”

Coulombe rewarded that faith by coming up big at the end, stopping Miami's ninth-inning rally after four runs had scored. Now, Baltimore will look to keep rolling and push its way to the top of the AL East.

The O’s open a three-game home set vs. the National League West-leading Dodgers on Monday night -- when promising young right-hander Grayson Rodriguez will be recalled to make his first big league start since May 26 -- before traveling to St. Petersburg, Fla., for a four-game series vs. the Rays starting Thursday.

“These guys are doing an amazing job in a really tough league,” Hyde said. “I’m really proud of how hard they’re playing, and I’m proud of how they come to play and come to win every day.”