HOUSTON — The Orioles ended the first half playing their best baseball of the season, winning four straight for the first time.

In one way, it was critical momentum heading into the All-Star break — providing a positive feeling for the ballclub during its four-day hiatus. On the other hand, the time off had the potential to stymie whatever spurred the Orioles to go on the run in the first place.

Through the first seven innings Friday night against the Astros, it appeared as if the rust would win out.

The Orioles looked sluggish and were drawing dead, striking out 12 times through the first seven frames as they trailed by one run. Then the Astros loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh off reliever Grant Wolfram, and Baltimore manager Craig Albernaz brought in a reliever who joined the team for the first time Friday and owned an 8.68 ERA.

Fifteen minutes later, the Orioles had the lead, and they held on for a stomach-turning 3-2 triumph to extend their winning streak to five games.

Cam Sanders, whom Baltimore acquired in a cash trade with the Pirates on Monday, entered with one out in a nearly impossible situation. He pulled a rabbit out of his hat, striking out Astros No. 3 hitter Isaac Paredes and getting former Oriole Christian Walker to pop out. It was enough to earn the 29-year-old Sanders his first major league win.

Adley Rutschman then led off the top of the eighth with a double down the right field line, and Taylor Ward delivered what might be his most clutch hit as an Oriole. Ward clobbered a center-cut sweeper from Astros left-hander Bryan King for a two-run, go-ahead homer that narrowly cleared the left-center field wall at Daikin Park.

Ward has been one of the Orioles’ best offensive players this season, but it’s come in a much different form than expected entering the season. The 32-year-old left fielder is coming off a career-high 36-homer season with the Los Angeles Angels, but he was an on-base machine for the Orioles in the first half while leaving the yard only six times — and only once at Camden Yards. The slugger has said he believes his power would emerge as the season progressed, and it might be doing just that. He has four long balls in his past 20 games.

After Sanders’ heroics, relievers Andrew Kittredge and Tyler Wells fired scoreless eighth and ninth innings to seal the victory. Wells allowed an infield single to leadoff hitter Jeremy Peña, bringing Yordan Alvarez, the best hitter in the AL, to the plate as the potential winning run. But Wells got Alvarez to fly out to center field, and then struck out Walker for the save.

Baltimore entered the All-Star break two games back of a playoff spot, but behind four teams for the final wild-card spot in the mediocre American League. After Friday’s win, the Orioles have a 47-51 record and are still two games back, but they leapfrogged one of the teams also jockeying in the race — the Astros, who are now 47-52.

Orioles starting pitcher Dean Kremer, who remained on turn in the rotation to start Friday, opened the game the one way you can’t when Alvarez is batting second. He walked the first batter.

Alvarez then made Kremer pay, swatting a double off the top of the left-center field wall to give Houston a 1-0 lead. Alvarez has been the best hitter in the AL this season, entering Friday leading the Junior Circuit in on-base percentage (.426), slugging (.633), OPS (1.059), home runs (31) and RBIs (70).

It took the Orioles’ offense three innings to record a hit against Astros starting pitcher Peter Lambert, and they only mustered two more off him after that. The right-hander is in the midst of a breakout season with Houston. After posting a 6.28 ERA across four seasons with the Colorado Rockies, Lambert ended the first half for the Astros with a sparkling 3.14 ERA. He entered the start with a career strikeout rate of 17.9% — well below average for an MLB pitcher — but he struck out a career-high 10 batters on Friday.

The Orioles’ lone run off Lambert came in the third inning after Coby Mayo’s leadoff single. Albernaz said before the game that there would be “some runway” for Mayo to be the Orioles’ regular third baseman in the injured Blaze Alexander’s stead. The 24-year-old Mayo has struggled mightily against righties this season, but he hit them well in the minors, and he was one of the few Orioles to handle Lambert on Friday.

After Mayo’s single, Lambert lost his command with two outs, issuing three straight walks to Rutschman, Ward and Pete Alonso — the last of which brought home a run. Designated hitter Samuel Basallo then received a juicy, center-cut slider on the first pitch, and he just missed it, launching a high fly ball to center field.

The offense got going again in the fourth on a single from Colton Cowser and a perfectly executed hit-and-run from Jackson Holliday to put runners on the corners for Gunnar Henderson. But the Orioles’ leadoff hitter struck out swinging as he wasn’t able to carry his strong end to the first half over to the opening game of the second half.

After the Orioles tied the game in the third, Kremer gave up his second and final run in the bottom half of the frame, as Paredes hit a sacrifice fly to score Peña. Kremer was pulled after four innings, which he needed 83 pitches to get through, and reliever Anthony Nunez pitched two scoreless frames before Wolfram came in for the seventh. The lone left-hander in Baltimore’s bullpen struggled, allowing three base runners while retiring only one batter, but Sanders picked him up with as impressive an Orioles debut as a reliever could have.

Baltimore will look to make it six straight wins Saturday with Trevor Rogers on the mound opposite Astros right-hander Spencer Arrighetti.

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