The Baltimore Orioles began their West Coast road trip with a 5-1 loss to the Oakland A’s on Monday. Fortunately for Oakland, the Birds did not spoil the home opener at RingCentral Coliseum, rather they served up two errors in the sixth inning to help send the A’s to victory.
Oakland took an early (1st inning) 1-0 lead only to see the Orioles tie the game on Austin Hays‘ (2 for 4, double 1 RBI) fifth inning double that allowed Rougned Odor (0 for 3, 1 Run Scored, 1 BB) to score.
Spenser Watkins started and pitched 5.0 solid innings, allowing 1 run on 2 hits (1 double) while walking 2 and striking out 1. The run Watkins allowed came on a groundout with a man at third.
The infamous sixth inning started with Joey Krehbiel (1-1) getting two consecutive strikeouts before allowing a Billy McKinney single. Ramon Urias‘ (2 for 4) throwing error put a runner on second while allowing McKinney to score. A walk and a single put the A’s up 3-1 and a fielding error by Odor allowed the fourth run to score. Cristian Pache’s RBI single capped off the A’s scoring.
Krehbiel took the loss for his 3 unearned run, 1 hit, 1 walk, 2 strikeout 0.2 inning performance.
Cedric Mullins went 1 for 4 with a triple and Jorge Mateo went 1 for 3 with a double.
Overall, Orioles’ hitters struck out 10 times, left 7 men on base and went 1 for 7 with runners in scoring position.
Record: 3-7