NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. — The PGA of America may have opened up the setup at Aronimink Golf Club, but that did not open up the crammed PGA Championship leaderboard Saturday.

Alex Smalley rallied on the back nine to shoot a 2-under-par 68 and build a two-shot lead, but nearly two dozen golfers are in striking range after the third round of the second major of the year.

If Smalley were to lift the Wanamaker Trophy on Sunday night, it would mark one of the biggest upsets in recent major golf history. Smalley, 29, is playing just his fifth major and has never finished better than T23. The Rochester, N.Y., native also has yet to win a PGA Tour event in 140 starts.

He enters the final round at 6-under 204, separating late in the day from a new group of contenders at 4 under par: Spaniard Jon Rahm (67), Englishman Aaron Rai (67), Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg (68), Germany’s Matti Schmid (65) and Canadian Nick Taylor (65) — all of whom made mid-afternoon moves despite increasing winds.

Three major winners are three shots back at 3 under: Northern Ireland star Rory McIlroy (66), Xander Schauffele (66) and Patrick Reed (67). Joining them is Maverick McNealy, who shared the 36-hole lead with Smalley but bogeyed two of his last four holes to stumble to a 71.

The conditions were far more scorable Saturday morning than at any point of the first two rounds. Chris Kirk, Englishman Justin Rose and Norway’s Kristoffer Reitan took advantage with rounds of 65 after only one 65 was seen Thursday or Friday. That trio rose to 2 under for the championship, as did Germany’s Martin Kaymer (66), Chile’s Joaquin Niemann (66), Bud Cauley (67), Ben Griffin (67) and Aussie Cameron Smith (68).

Also in the 12-way tie at 2 under are Max Greyserman, Chris Gotterup, Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama and Australia’s Min Woo Lee, each of whom settled for 71s after starting the day one behind the leaders.

Smalley appeared to take himself out of the picture when he bogeyed three of his first four holes. He quietly worked his way back by posting birdies at Nos. 7, 9 and 10 with a bogey speed bump at No. 8.

Smalley and McNealy each birdied the short par-4 13th to return to 4 under. Then Smalley holed a 27-foot putt straight uphill at No. 15 to take the outright lead before adding another birdie at the easy par-5 16th. He became just the second player to touch 6 under this week as McNealy spent a brief time at that score Friday.

Smalley couldn’t get up and down from a bunker at the par-3 17th, but saved par to maintain the lead. Then came a 14-footer for birdie at the last.

–Adam Zielonka, Field Level Media

Keibert Ruiz had three hits, including a homer, and drove in five runs, and Cade Cavalli pitched into the seventh inning as the Nationals beat the Baltimore Orioles 13-3 on Saturday in Washington.

Jacob Young and Brady House each had two hits with a homer, and CJ Abrams had three hits for Washington, which reached the .500 mark after losing their previous 15 games when they had a chance to do so going back to 2024.

Cavalli (2-2) allowed three runs on eight hits and struck out eight without a walk in 6 1/3 innings.

Samuel Basallo and Tyler O’Neill homered for Baltimore, which has scored three runs or less in eight of its past nine games.

Orioles starter Chris Bassitt (3-3) gave up four runs on six hits in five innings. He struck out four and walked one.

Abrams led off the second with a double. Nasim Nunez walked with one out and Ruiz followed with a homer to right to make it 3-0.

James Wood doubled leading off the third inning and scored on a two-out double by Abrams.

The Orioles rallied against Cavalli in the seventh. Basallo led off with a homer to right and O’Neill followed with a line-drive to left to pull the Orioles within 4-2.

After Leody Taveras singled, Coby Mayo hit a high fly ball down the left field line near the foul pole. The ball was called foul and that was upheld after a crew chief review. Mayo struck out and PJ Poulin replaced Cavalli. Jeremiah Jackson flied out, Gunnar

Henderson walked and Taylor Ward singled to left, scoring Taveras to make it 4-3.

Wood walked leading off the bottom of the eighth and House doubled down the left-field line to score him. Abrams singled and House moved to third. Daylen Lile grounded to short with the infield in, but House beat the play at home. Nunez walked and

Ruiz singled to left, scoring two runners to increase the lead to 8-3.

Young won an ABS challenge on what would have been strike three and then smacked a three-run homer to left to make it 11-3. House added a two-run shot in the eighth.

–Field Level Media

Liam Hicks ripped a two-run single and Javier Sanoja added a three-run double to highlight an eight-run 10th inning that fueled the Miami Marlins to a 10-5 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday in St. Petersburg, Fla.

The Marlins loaded the bases in the 10th against Hunter Bigge (1-1) before Hicks’ single to right. Otto Lopez followed with a sacrifice fly, Connor Norby added an RBI single and Sanoja cleared the bases before coming home on Esteury Ruiz’s run-scoring single.

The late offensive eruption made a winner of former Rays closer Pete Fairbanks (1-2), who saw former Marlin Nick Fortes rip an RBI single off the glove of third baseman Sanoja with two outs in the ninth. Fairbanks spent six-plus seasons with Tampa Bay before signing with Miami in the offseason.

Lake Bachar yielded a two-run double to Junior Caminero and an RBI single to Jonathan Aranda in the 10th before closing out the game.

Bigge was charged with eight runs (seven earned) on six hits and two walks in one inning.

Miami’s Jakob Marsee collected his third hit, a single, with two outs in the ninth and the score 1-1. Marsee didn’t stay on first base long as he hustled around the bases when Sanoja deposited a first-pitch changeup from Bryan Baker off the wall in left-center field.

Heriberto Hernandez belted a pinch-hit solo homer in the seventh inning for the Marlins, who banged out 15 hits to overcome four errors.

Chandler Simpson had an RBI single in the third inning for the AL East-leading Rays, who saw their 11-game home winning streak come to an end. The setback was just their fourth in 21 games overall.

Tampa Bay’s Richie Palacios celebrated his 29th birthday by collecting two hits and reeling in a basket catch to strand a runner on third base in the top of the sixth. Palacios, however, was picked off third by Miami catcher Joe Mack to end the bottom of the sixth.

–Field Level Media