Healy hits 2 of A’s 4 home runs in win over Orioles
BALTIMORE — Ryon Healy homered twice and had three RBIs, Jed Lowrie hit a two-run drive and the Oakland Athletics beat the sinking Baltimore Orioles 6-4 on Tuesday night.
The Athletics used homers by Lowrie and Healy to take a 3-0 lead in the first inning, and Healy connected in the fifth for a five-run cushion.
Manny Machado hit a two-run homer in the sixth for Baltimore and Jonathan Schoop singled in two runs in the eighth to make it 5-4, but Khris Davis blunted the comeback with his 34th home run in the ninth.
Baltimore hasn’t won consecutive games since Aug. 5-7. The Orioles (6064) began the day trailing five teams for the second AL wild card.
Ubaldo Jimenez (5-9) gave up three homers and has won only one of his last eight starts. He has surrendered a career-high 29 home runs this season, most on the Baltimore pitching staff.
The last-place A’s long ago fell out of playoff contention, but they’ve been tough on the Orioles. The teams split a four-game series in Oakland earlier this month, and each team has won a game in this series heading into Wednesday’s finale.
The Athletics may have lost promising rookie pitcher Paul Blackburn for an extended period. The right-hander was struck in the wrist with a line drive off the bat of Trey Mancini in the fourth inning and left the game.
Oakland did not immediately provide an injury update.
Simon Castro (1-1) pitched two innings to earn his first win since Aug. 31, 2015 and Blake Treinen got four outs for his fifth save.
Long-ball drought — Healy had
only two home runs in his previous 41 games after hitting 19 through June 28. It was his fourth multihomer game of the season.
Boog meets Boog — Boog Powell always wondered what it would be like to meet the other Boog Powell, who used to play with the Orioles and now has a barbecue stand beyond the right-field wall at Camden Yards. Boog and Boog met before the game, and the chat left a lasting impression on the younger Powell. “It was just unreal. I never thought this day would come,” said Powell, whose father nicknamed him Boog when the kid was 5.
Trainer’s room — Athletics: SS Marcus Semien was given the night off after feeling discomfort in his right wrist, which was operated on in April. Manager Bob Melvin said it was “irritated scar tissue.”
Orioles: SS J.J. Hardy (wrist) went 1 for 2 with Triple-A Norfolk in his second rehab game before leaving after six innings. He went 0 for 3 with two strikeouts on Monday.
Up next — Athletics: LHP sean Manaea (8-8, 4.58 ERA) seeks to bounce back from a half-dozen ineffective starts in the series finale Wednesday afternoon. He’s 0-3 with an 8.17 ERA since July 16.