Oakland A’s threaten in the ninth, but lose in Mike Fiers’ 2021 debut

OAKLAND — The Oakland A’s had all the pieces in place to, at least, extend Friday’s game. But the Baltimore Orioles escaped with a tense 3-2 win over Oakland in the A’s homecoming at the Coliseum.

The A’s ninth inning threat came with a leadoff single from Sean Murphy and a desperation single from Matt Chapman. But Mitch Moreland’s lineout and fly outs from Seth Brown and Elvis Andrus ended the possibility.

Mike Fiers looked promising in his 2021 debut against the Orioles. But the hard hits escalated, the A’s offense didn’t have many answers, and Fiers was on the short end of the A’s loss.

Fiers’ command was strong in the first and second innings. He painted the black with his high-80s fastball with a nice changeup and curveball. But Cedric Mullins and Austin Hays tagged Fiers for back-to-back home runs in the third. Mullins’ groundout RBI scored another run in the fifth.

Fiers ate six innings, collecting three strikeouts with two walks. He kept the A’s in the game, which has been his calling card during his Oakland tenure. Although Fiers missed all of spring training and the season up until last Monday dealing with a back injury, his initial placement in the bullpen didn’t fit who the team thinks he is. The A’s singed him to a one-year, $3.5 million deal to start games.

“It’s what he’s done,” manager Bob Melvin said. “You look at his track record with us and he’s done it pretty well. We don’t want to take Cole Irvin out of the rotation because he’s done well. We don’t want to take the other guys out. So at some point you look at your bullpen and how well rested guys are. We’re in a good spot today, and try to put him in a position where he can do his thing. Originally we looked at it that way. The day we put him in there, there was a need, potentially. At this point in time we feel good about where we are. Mike’s track record starting for us has been really good.”

So, for now, the A’s will go with this six-man rotation. The other five will get an extra day off.

Against John Means for a second time in two weeks, the A’s struggled again to find hits. Murphy and Moreland’s solo home runs were two of the three hits Means would allow — a Ramon Laureano bloop single was the third — through seven innings. He struck out nine A’s with one walk.