Orioles fold again in the late innings against the Athletics
OAKLAND — The Orioles held back the tide as long as they could Wednesday, but the Oakland A’s were not going to be denied. They have been hammering O’s pitching since early April and they closed the season series with an 8-3 victory at the Oakland Coliseum.
It was the eighth straight loss for the Orioles and — while it didn’t carry the sting of Tuesday night’s ugly 14run blowout — it was another frustrating display of sub-par relief pitching against a team that can feast on it.
“That’s a playoff-tested offense,” said manager Brandon Hyde. “They’re more of a veteran group. They’re primarily right-handed with Olson, a lefty who can do a lot of damage. They’re professional hitters and they’re really good, and that’s why they’re a postseason team.”
The A’s won six of the seven games between the two teams and scored eight runs or more in five of the six wins. Since losing the first game of a four-game April series at Camden Yards, they have outscored the O’s 5817.
For five innings, it looked like the finale of the three-game series might add another unsightly wrinkle to the Orioles miserable June. Oakland starter Chris Bassitt carried a no-hit bid into the sixth, before Jonathan Villar finally broke it up with a leadoff single.
To that point, the Orioles had managed only two base runners and one of them didn’t even get to first base. Bassitt hit first baseman Trey Mancini with a pitch and Mancini had to leave the game with a painfully
bruised left elbow.
Thankfully for the Orioles, that was all it was, considering the way Mancini reacted at the plate and was holding his arm as he exited the field. The club certainly could not afford to lose its top hitter and presumptive All-Star for an extended period.
The Orioles already had suffered enough during their embarrassing 16-2 loss the night before, and halfway through Wednesday’s game they were facing the possibility of further embarrassment.
Meanwhile, the Orioles “opener” strategy worked pretty well. Jimmy Yacabonis started the game with two scoreless innings and rookie Josh Rogers came on to retire eight straight batters before the A’s offense finally got something going in the bottom of the fifth inning.
Rogers got the first two outs of that inning, but allowed a
double to A’s outfielder Stephen Piscotty and plunked infielder Chad Pinder with a pitch to set the table for No. 9 hitter Josh Phegley, who launched a three-run home run that broke the scoreless tie.
“Yak did a nice job,” Hyde said. “Worked out of trouble in the first and got two good innings out of him. Josh threw two good innings and just hung a slider 0-2, which we have done a lot. But, we gave the ball to our bullpen guys with a chance to win and didn’t do it.”
The Orioles answered in their next at-bat, but it wasn’t exactly a resounding rally. Villar opened the sixth with their first hit and Bassitt loaded the bases with a pair or one-out walks before Renato Nunez beat out an infield hit to score the first O’s run.
That was it for Bassitt, but not the Orioles. Reliever Ryan Buchter came on to face Rio Ruiz and walked him to force home another run and usher the O’s back into the game, albeit temporarily.