Photo courtesy of Oakland A’s.

By Titus Wilkinson

OAKLAND- The A’s hosted Baltimore on Friday night at the Oakland Coliseum and had a rough outing on the mound as they lost to the Orioles by a final of 9-4.

Getting the start for the A’s was left-hander Francisco Pérez while for Baltimore Kyle Gibson got the nod.

Pérez had quite the rough first inning as after a Gunnar Henderson single Anthony Santander singled to third base. The ball though deflected off of Pérez and Jordan Diaz made a throwing error allowing everyone to be safe. Continuing the momentum Ryan Mountcastle singled bringing home a run and then Cedric Mullins doubled knocking in two runs making it 3-0. Mercifully for Pérez, the inning was ended by Austin Hays grounding out.

The A’s did have a response in the bottom of the first as Brent Rooker singled and then Seth Brown doubled cutting Baltimore’s lead down to two.

In the second inning, Oakland made a pitching change bringing in Luis Medina who at first was cruising getting two quick outs. Adley Rutschman though broke up the streak as he singled which was followed up by a wild pitch from Medina bringing Rutschman up to third. On a 2-1 pitch Henderson crushed one to right field extending their lead to 5-1. The ball exited the field at 111.4 mph and went 438 ft.

Once again the A’s had a response in the bottom of the inning as this time Tyler Soderstrom singled. After that, Tony Kemp got a double cutting the lead back to 5-2.

The third would go by with no hits but in the fourth, the bats reawoken as Austin Hays doubled for the Orioles. After that play the A’s made their second error of the game helping Adam Frazier reach and get Hays to third. Jordan Westburg then got Hays home on a sac fly to right field. The scoring in the fourth did not end though as Henderson once again came up with a big hit with a single and brought the score up to 7-2.

The A’s went to their bullpen in the fifth this time calling on Kyle Muller to help limit the damage. He would give up a lead-off single but then got the next two out though Ryan O’Hearn was able to steal second. Frazier with a double got O’Hearn home and brought up Westburg who wasted no time singling and getting the Orioles lead up to 9-2.

With the game so far gone Oakland did not give up as Rooker doubled in the bottom of the fifth knocking home a run. That RBI ended up being Rooker’s 50th of the season. Seth Brown singled as well getting Rooker home and making the score 9-4.

After the fifth that ended up being all the scoring, either team could muster up as Baltimore brought in Yennier Cano to close out the game. The A’s ended up going down in order thus closing the game out at a 9-4 final.

The win on the night went to pitcher Gibson who now improves his record to 12-7. He would finish the game with an okay stat line of four earned runs, nine hits, and six Ks. While Francisco Pérez took the loss bringing his record to 0-1.

The A’s will play the second of this three-game home series against Baltimore Saturday night at 6:07 p.m.