BALTIMORE -- Another lively night at Camden Yards had everything going in the Orioles’ favor on Tuesday, as it so often has during a remarkable 2023 season for the club.

A 472-foot homer. A leaping catch by an inexperienced center fielder. Another tight game. And an almost victory against the defending World Series champions.

All Baltimore needed to secure that win in its first meeting of the year with Houston was three outs from Félix Bautista. Instead, the All-Star closer had a rare slipup in a season in which he hasn’t many, squandering a three-run lead in the ninth inning on Kyle Tucker’s go-ahead grand slam, which sent the Astros to a 7-6 victory.

“Honestly, I just think it wasn’t my day,” Bautista said via interpreter Brandon Quinones.

However, it was an eventful night. Let’s break down the noteworthy events for the Orioles (70-43 and still two games up in the American League East) in the order in which they unfolded:

Statcast home run history
Astros left-hander Framber Valdez’s bid for a second consecutive no-hitter ended early -- and in emphatic fashion. In the bottom of the first, Adley Rutschman led off with a walk, and then Ryan Mountcastle blasted a Statcast-projected 472-foot homer over both bullpens in left-center field.

It was the longest homer hit by a Baltimore player this season, as well as the longest hit by an Oriole at Camden Yards since Statcast tracking began in 2015. The only longer Statcast-tracked homer at the ballpark was a 474-footer by Carlos Correa (then with Houston) on Aug. 10, 2019.

“I knew I got it pretty good, and then once it went over the other bullpen, I was a little shocked,” said Mountcastle, who had never hit a longer homer in his four-year MLB career.

A shortstop robs a home run?
Before Saturday, Jorge Mateo hadn’t appeared at center field in a regular-season game since June 13, 2021, when he was with the Padres. However, the 28-year-old -- who has made 218 starts at shortstop over the past two seasons -- has made two consecutive starts in center, and he’s making himself comfortable there.

Mateo made an impressive leaping grab for the second out of the fifth on Tuesday, robbing Yordan Alvarez of at least extra bases, if not a homer. The play got a strong reaction out of his teammates, especially right-hander Grayson Rodriguez.

“Hats off to Mateo for making that spectacular catch,” said Rodriguez, who allowed two runs over six innings.

Bautista’s rare blip
Entering Tuesday, Bautista hadn’t allowed a run since June 24. The 28-year-old right-hander had tossed 17 scoreless innings over his previous 14 appearances, lowering his ERA to 0.85 and strengthening his budding case to be in the AL Cy Young Award conversation.

The Astros opened the ninth with a Jon Singleton walk and a Jose Altuve single. Then, with one out, Yordan Alvarez hit a 395-foot single off the center-field wall to load the bases against Bautista.

Tucker immediately followed with his game-turning slam, which came on the ninth pitch of his at-bat vs. the Orioles’ lights-out closer, whose ERA went up to 1.52 with his sixth blown save of the year.

“He’s not going to be perfect,” Hyde said, “which he really has been almost the entire season.”

Bautista’s teammates expressed confidence that he’ll quickly bounce back. He believes so, too.

“This already happened. This game already happened. Immediately, the focus is moving on to tomorrow and trying to do the job next time it comes,” Bautista said. “You can’t let this one outing carry over into the next day, because the last thing you want is it affecting you two days in a row instead of just the one.”