The Oakland Athletics were in town for a four-game series, a struggling team who is near the bottom of the league in almost every facet. This was the kind of series the Orioles were supposed to win.
Of course, the Athletics are a professional baseball team and weren’t going to go down without a fight. A fight is exactly what the Athletics gave the Birds, and the Orioles’ pitching still showed signs of struggle throughout.
Ryan Mountcastle did his part to keep the Orioles in charge, as he went 5-for-16 for the series with four home runs and 12 RBIs in the four games.
In game one of the series, it was the veteran Kyle Gibson who would take the mound making his home debut in front of the Baltimore Faithful. The veteran would come out and go 6.1 innings, allowing one earned run on five hits and four walks. He struck out four and brought his season totals to 3-0 with a 3.44 ERA.
The offense was led by three home runs from Ryan Mountcastle, Adley Rutschman and Austin Hays, respectively, as the Orioles walked away with a 5-1 victory.
In game two, it was Grayson Rodriguez making his home debut for the Birds. Though his stats are skewed and look rough, he didn’t pitch horribly. He was charged with five runs on six hits and four walks, and he went to two strikes on 18 batters and did strike out six.
This game was all about Ryan Mountcastle, though, as the stud first baseman reminded the league he is a force to be reckoned with. Mounty drove in nine runs as he went 3-for-4 at the plate. He hit a three-run home run and a grand slam and led the Orioles to a hard fought 12-8 victory.
Game three was another struggle for the starting pitching, as Dean Kremer is still struggling to get things on track.
Kremer labored through 4.1 innings, allowing four earned runs, but the Orioles offense fought back.
Jorge Mateo, Ryan McKenna, Adley Rutschman and Cedric Mullins contributed RBIs to help the Orioles tie the A’s. Unfortunately for the Birds, the bullpen faltered.
Keegan Akin and Cionel Pérez would combine to pitch two innings, allowing four earned runs on eight hits and a walk. They were unable to stop the bleeding, and the Athletics walked away with an 8-4 victory.
Game four saw more struggles from the starting pitching. Cole Irvin was taking the mound and would last just four innings.
The usually in control Irvin, once again, was doomed by walks and high pitch counts. Walking two more batters to go with five hits, Irvin would allow six earned runs as he threw 80 pitches.
The bullpen came in and shut it down, though. Another home run given up by Austin Voth was all the bullpen allowed.
Voth, Bryan Baker, Danny Coulombe and Félix Bautista combined for five innings of work, allowing four hits (three by Voth), the one earned run and six strikeouts, as Bautista took the win.
Offensively, the Birds would not quit, pounding out 12 hits, at least one by every starter but Jorge Mateo, who did provide two RBIs and a stolen base.
Mountcastle hit another home run, but it was young Adley Rutschman who was the hero. With the game tied 7-7, Rutschman took the second pitch he saw to right-center field, as he would give the home team and crowd a walk-off and series win with one swing.
BATTERY ❌-FACTOR
The BATTERY ❌-FACTOR heading into the series was the starting rotation. Outside of Kyle Gibson’s start, there was not much to brag about from the starters.
Between Gibson, Rodriguez, Kremer and Irvin, the starters would combine to go 1-0 on the series, pitching 19 total innings and allowing 16 earned runs (7.58 ERA) on 21 hits and 11 walks with only 15 strikeouts.
It’s safe to say that the starters were not a factor in the outcome of the series. If not for the offense and some bullpen work, the series could have easily swayed the opposite way.
Ryan Mountcastle and Adley Rutschman became the difference-makers in the series, as the Birds closed out the home stand 4-3 as they head to Chicago.
The Orioles, who have now won as many games as all of last April, are back in action tomorrow to face the Chicago White Sox for a three-game set from the South Side.
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