A's Take Finale Against Orioles to Get the Series Win

The A's wrapped up their series against the Baltimore Orioles with a 5-1 victory to take the series. Southpaw Jacob Lopez took the mound for the team, and he tossed four innings of four-hit baseball, walked two, and struck out five batters, while allowed one run total, but no earned runs.

On the other side, Tomoyuki Sugano got the start for the visiting Orioles. Sugano tossed 4.1 innings for the O's and allowed three earned runs on eight hits and one walk. The A's were consistently getting runners aboard against him in the first couple of innings, scoring four of their five runs in the game in the first two frames.

The A's opened up the scoring in the bottom of the first inning. It seems like the club has done a good job getting a run across in the first inning of games to set the tone of late, and it has been leading to wins in three of their last four. Tyler Soderstrom knocked in Lawrence Butler on an RBI single to give the team an early lead.

The Orioles responded in the next inning as Emmanuel Rivera would steal second base, and Ramón Urías scored after Jhonny Pereda made a throwing error on the pick off attempt. Pereda would make up for it in the bottom of the inning, as he doubled to score Ramón's brother, Luis Urias.

The A's weren't done scoring in the bottom of the second. Lawrence Butler would reach on a fielder's choice, and an error by Gunnar Henderson would score Jhonny Pereda. Jacob Wilson would then collect his MLB lead-tying hit, which would be good for an RBI single to extend the A's lead 4-1. The hit gave Wilson 92 on the season, which at the time tied him with New York's Aaron Judge.

A's left-hander Sean Newcomb would enter the game in the fifth and give the team three innings of scoreless baseball, giving up only three hits and striking out three Orioles hitters in relief. Newcomb filled up the zone, and was able to save lots of the bullpen arms so that Holman, McFarland, and Miller could all throw 12 or less pitches in relief, to keep arms fresh for tomorrow's series opener in Los Angeles.

In the eighth inning, A's rookie infielder Max Muncy was able to hit his third home run of the season off Bryan Baker to extend the A's lead to 5-1, which was good insurance for the A's heading into the ninth inning. The home run is Muncy's second since he returned from Triple-A Las Vegas for the weekend series.

A's closer Mason Miller would come on in the ninth in a non-save situation, but given the A's recent losing streaks of 11 and nine games, the idea was to keep him someone fresh and secure winnable games. It would only take five pitches for Miller to complete the full ninth inning, which gave the A's the series win in a 5-1 win.

Tomorrow the A's will head to Anaheim to take on the Angels for a three-game set. The team is expected to activate Nick Kurtz from the IL after he made one rehab appearance on Saturday night in Stockton, hitting a home run in a 2-for-3 evening that included a walk. Kurtz was in the A's clubhouse on Sunday morning so that he could catch the team flight to Anaheim.

Newly acquired catcher Austin Wynns could also be added to the roster ahead of Monday's game, giving the A's a veteran catcher with Shea Langeliers on the IL. After getting swept in a four-game series by the Angels at home, the A's will be looking to show the Halos a different side of their club to begin the week.