After taking their first road series of the season, the Athletics continued this road trip just a few miles down the road to Baltimore to face the Orioles at Camden Yard. Just like the Nationals series, both teams have a firm grip on last place in their respective decisions, but both have young, promising talent that will likely lead to a brighter future.
The Orioles were wearing their mostly boring partially funky City Connect uniforms this Friday night. J.T. Ginn took the mound tonight for the A’s and went up against Tomoyuki Sugano for the O’s.
Ginn got off to a rough start giving up three runs on back-to-back homers in the first inning to Adley Rutschman and Ryan Mountcastle. At the end of the first, the O’s topped the A’s 3-0.
At the end of four innings, Ginn had already accrued eight strikeouts. Lawrence Butler led off the fifth with a bloop double to left field. Gio Urshela grounded out to short, sending Butler to third with just one out. A Sacrifice Fly by Luis UrÃas drove in Butler, bringing the score to 3-1.
Ben Bowden replaced Ginn in the bottom of the sixth. Ginn’s final line was five innings, three earned runs on three hits and two walks. He ended the night with nine strikeouts, a career high for him. Bowden tossed a 1-2-3 sixth to keep the score at 3-1.
Tyler Ferguson replaced Bowden in the seventh. He walked rookie Coby Mayo but induced a double play ball to get out of the inning in order. The A’s got back on the board in the eighth thanks to singles by Nick Kurtz and Tyler Soderstrom. Kurtz scored on the Soderstrom base hit. That brought he score to 3-2.
Elvis Alvarado entered the game to pitch the eighth for Mark Kotsay. He kept their bats quiet, but the A’s could not score in the ninth. The final score was 3-2. The two teams will be back at it the same time tomorrow.