A’s drop series finale against Orioles, 6-3

A’s lose the series despite outscoring the O’s throughout the duration

Maybe the A’s should’ve saved some runs yesterday.

Following their 19-8 win yesterday including 18 hits and five big flies, the A’s cashed in a much less entertaining and sloppier effort today. It was messy on the offensive end as the bats didn’t wake up until the sixth inning, and it was messier on the defensive front with three errors. The A’s committed seven total this series.

In the end, all of this culminated in a 6-3 loss for the A’s as the Baltimore Orioles took the series finale and rubber match. It’s the last time the A’s will be at the Coliseum in 12 days as they head to the east coast then to the All-Star Game break.

The A’s punched the Orioles in the mouth early and often yesterday, but the O’s returned the favor today.

With two outs in the first, Mitch Spence served up a home run ball to Anthony Santander down the right field line. Back-to-back singles reignited the rally and Heston Kjerstad capped off the inning swatting a three-run home run to left-center. The Orioles suddenly led 4-0 before the A’s could even take their first at-bats.

In the third inning, things got a little uglier.

Santander reached on a sun-aided single, and later in the inning with him now at second Kjerstad launched a ball to right-center. JJ Bleday and Lawrence Butler inched closer together underneath the ball without either yielding and the ball tipped off Bledays glove for an error. Santander scored and the O’s now led 5-0 while bad defense continued to plague the A’s this series.

The Orioles bats certainly had their moments especially early this afternoon, but the A’s offense was silent for a large majority of the game. It took them until the sixth inning to put a runner in scoring position after a Bleday walk and Brent Rooker hit by pitch. The A’s offense had just three scattered singles to that point.

Tyler Soderstrom was up next, and he took a 96 MPH outside sinker perfectly the other way for an RBI double — the A’s first and only extra base hit of the game. Shea Langeliers drove home another run on a sacrifice fly next as the lead was cut down to 5-2.

Besides a disastrous first, Spence bounced back to give the A’s way more than many had anticipated. He went six full innings allowing five runs, four earned and five punch outs. It certainly wasn’t close to the best A’s fans have seen of Spence this season, but it was a resilient effort against a tough lineup.

After the A’s offense finally broke through against Grayson Rodriguez in the sixth, they went right back to work in the seventh. Butler singled to lead-off the inning, he moved up to second on a wild-pitch and then Brett Harris singled to put runners on the corners and the tying run at the dish with no outs. Rodriguez was immediately pulled ending his line at six innings, six hits, two runs and eight strikeouts.

Max Schuemann struck out to flip the order for Bleday as a double play was now in effect. Bleday tapped a taylor-made ground ball to third base but Gunnar Henderson's turn at second saw him chuck the ball about 10 feet too far to the right. Instead of an inning ending double play, the A’s were bailed out with a run but that’d be their last big opportunity of the day.

The Orioles added a sixth run in the ninth thanks to a Henderson RBI shot up the middle. It marked the Orioles first run since the third inning of the game, and they were actually outscored 24-17 by the green and gold this series. A large portion of that for the A’s can be credited to yesterdays slaughter fest, however.

Up next, the A’s are east coast bound for six games and two series against the Boston Red Sox and Philadelphia Phillies. They’ll get the day off tomorrow then kick-off the road stand Tuesday at 4:10 PM PDT as Joey Estes takes the ball in Beantown. The Red Sox will counter with Brayan Bello.