{"id":694091,"date":"2026-05-09T04:12:22","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T04:12:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/694091\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T04:12:22","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T04:12:22","slug":"as-prevent-the-orioles-from-flying-away-with-the-victory-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/694091\/","title":{"rendered":"A\u2019s Prevent the Orioles From Flying Away with the Victory"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new series means a fresh start. After losing two out of three against the Philadelphia Phillies<\/a>, the Athletics<\/a> began a three-game series against the Baltimore Orioles on Tupac bobblehead night at Camden Yards. The A\u2019s ruined the Orioles\u2019 Tupac celebration, winning the first game of the series 4-3, thanks to timely hitting, arguably Jacob Lopez<\/a>\u2019s best start of the season and a bullpen that bent, but did not break.<\/p>\n

Orioles Waste Early Scoring Chance<\/p>\n

Yesterday, the A\u2019s scored four times in the first inning against the Phillies\u2019 pitcher. In contrast, Orioles\u2019 starting pitcher Kyle Bradish<\/a> retired the first six A\u2019s hitters.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

His counterpart, A\u2019s left-hander Jacob Lopez got into some trouble in his first inning. He walked Orioles\u2019 shortstop Gunnar Henderson<\/a> and then catcher Adley Rutschman<\/a> singled to put runners on the corners with one out. Somehow Lopez escaped the early jam unscathed by getting first baseman Pete Alonso<\/a> to pop out and then right fielder Tyler O\u2019Neill to ground out. Buoyed by that escape, Lopez shut down the Orioles over the next three innings.<\/p>\n

Bradish Halts A\u2019s First Rally<\/p>\n

With two outs in the third inning, Bradish hit Jeff McNeil<\/a> with a pitch then A\u2019s first baseman Nick Kurtz hustled down the line to beat the Orioles third baseman\u2019s throw for an infield single, his team\u2019s first hit of the game. Kurtz\u2019s hit extended his on-base streak to 32 games, the longest active streak in MLB. Alas, Bradish struck out A\u2019s catcher Shea Langeliers<\/a> to end the rally and the inning.<\/p>\n

Orioles Strike First<\/p>\n

With one out in the fourth, Alonso hit his eighth home run of 2026, a solo shot to right field to put the hosts up 1-0 after four frames. The four hitters in that inning all hit deep fly balls off of Lopez, but fortunately only Alonso\u2019s reached the seats.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

A\u2019s Immediately Respond<\/p>\n

Athletics\u2019 shortstop Jacob Wilson<\/a> led off the fifth with an infield single, extending his hit streak to 12 games. Center fielder Lawrence Butler<\/a> followed with a single to left. Then third baseman Zack Gelof<\/a> came up and hit a single to left, scoring Wilson to tie the game.<\/p>\n

A few pitches later, with runners on second and third and one out, Kurtz came through! The \u201cBig Amish\u201d hit his first triple of the season, a rocket down the right field line that scored both runners to put the A\u2019s up 3-1.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, the visitors stranded Kurtz at third base. Bradish got the next two hitters out to limit further damage. Langeliers struck out for a second straight time with a runner in scoring position and then left fielder Tyler Soderstrom<\/a> grounded out.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Lopez, who has struggled this season the deeper he pitches into games, recorded a much-needed shutdown inning in the bottom of the fifth.<\/p>\n

Orioles Inch Closer<\/p>\n

In the bottom of the sixth, the Orioles halved their deficit. Rutschman hit his fifth home run of the season, a solo blast to left-center. A\u2019s manager Mark Kotsay promptly pulled his starter from the game. Lopez performed much better tonight. He gave up three hits and those two solo home runs in 5 1\/3 innings, striking out five while walking only two.<\/p>\n

The Orioles starter was also much improved from his last start. Bradish struck out ten over seven innings of three-run ball.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

It was up to the A\u2019s bullpen to hold the team\u2019s slim lead. Right-hander Justin Sterner<\/a> got the final two outs of the sixth inning, aided by Wilson\u2019s nice ranging defensive play to field Alonso\u2019s hard-hit ground ball. Fellow right-hander Scott Barlow<\/a> set Baltimore down in order in a scoreless seventh.<\/p>\n

A\u2019s Get Crucial Insurance Run<\/p>\n

In the eighth inning, the Athletics sought insurance runs against Orioles\u2019 reliever Trey Gibson. Langeliers and Brent Rooker<\/a> singled. With two outs, Wilson poked his second single past the diving Alonso, scoring Soderstrom from second to restore his team\u2019s two-run lead.<\/p>\n

Once again, the A\u2019s needed a shutdown inning and they got it, this time from reliever Joel Kuhnel<\/a>, who got three quick outs in the bottom of the eighth.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

A\u2019s Barely Hang on<\/p>\n

The Orioles did not go quietly in the bottom of the ninth. A\u2019s hard-throwing right-hander Jack Perkins<\/a> entered the game seeking his fourth save. Rutschman led off the inning with a walk. Perkins bounced back by striking out Alonso and pinch-hitter Dylan Beavers<\/a>. With the Orioles down to their last strike, designated hitter Samuel Basallo<\/a> bounced a single into center field, scoring Rutschman from second to make it a one-run game.<\/p>\n

The A\u2019s brought in left-hander Hogan Harris<\/a> to replace Perkins, a risky decision that could have backfired. Harris walked the first batter he faced before striking out Orioles\u2019 second baseman Jeremiah Jackson<\/a> to put a stop to Baltimore\u2019s last-ditch comeback attempt, pick up his second save of the season and seal the Athletics victory in this tightly-contested, entertaining series-opener.<\/p>\n

These two teams will play the second game of their series tomorrow afternoon. The A\u2019s will send right-hander Aaron Civale<\/a> (3-1, 2.95 ERA) to the mound in pursuit of the series title. The 30-year-old has been a steadying presence in the team\u2019s rotation through his first seven starts with the A\u2019s. Civale will be opposed by Orioles\u2019 right-hander Shane Baz<\/a>, who is 1-3 with a 4.99 ERA through his first seven starts with Baltimore. It should be another great game between two well-matched teams.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new series means a fresh start. After losing two out of three against the Philadelphia Phillies, the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":694092,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2391],"tags":[2132,1079,537,47,5,545,13462,6920,916,4813,26058,632,1950,1332,13459,29620,6616,1510,4810,4,3226,459,74,25,7326,11148,5144,3442,1949,1362,544,3291],"class_list":["post-694091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-athletics","tag-aaron-civale","tag-adley-rutschman","tag-athletics","tag-baltimore-orioles","tag-baseball","tag-brent-rooker","tag-dylan-beavers","tag-fifth-inning","tag-gunnar-henderson","tag-hogan-harris","tag-jack-perkins","tag-jacob-lopez","tag-jacob-wilson","tag-jeff-mcneil","tag-jeremiah-jackson","tag-joel-kuhnel","tag-justin-sterner","tag-kyle-bradish","tag-lawrence-butler","tag-mlb","tag-mlb-athletics","tag-nick-kurtz","tag-pete-alonso","tag-philadelphia-phillies","tag-samuel-basallo","tag-scott-barlow","tag-shane-baz","tag-shea-langeliers","tag-the-athletics","tag-the-orioles","tag-tyler-soderstrom","tag-zack-gelof"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=694091"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694091\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/694092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=694091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=694091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=694091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}