Baltimore Orioles Albert Saurez was dealing against the Oakland A’s here he pitches in the bottom of the sixth at the Oakland Coliseum on Sat Jul 5, 2024 (AP News photo)

Baltimore (56-32). 120 000 000. 3 8. 1

Athletics (33-55). 100 000 100. 2. 5. 3

Time: 2:28

Attendance: 9,654

Friday, July 5, 2024

By Lewis Rubman

OAKLAND–Fresh from having shot down the fallen Angels in three straight ambushes, the ambulent Athletics took aim at the high flying Orioles at 6:40 this warm Friday evening. The birds were an AL East leading 55-32 when Hogan Harris (1-2, 3.18 at the time) threw his first pitch for the 33-54 A’s. The game ended at 9:08 with Baltimore holding on for a squeaker of a 3-2 win and Harris’ record fallen to 1-3, 3.22

Hidden behind Harris’s lackluster 1-2 won record at game time were a decent ERA of 3.18 and three no decisions that came about because the bullpen had blown the save. His appearances with the A’s this year have alternated with a couple of stints with AAA Las Vegas, with whom he went 1-2, 7.67.

This time, after a couple of rocky innings, Harris settled down and did an adequate job of holding the O’s to three runs, two of them earned, over five frames. He gave up five hits and three walks while striking out four. 60 of his 103 pitches went into the books as strikes.

Starting with the left hander Harris, the Athletics used five pitchers, alternating left, right, left down to the bitter end. Tyler Ferguson relieved Harris to open the visitors’ sixth and managed to keep the Orioles off the board. TJ McFarland did the same job more crisply in the seventh.

The only baserunner he allowed came on an error by Zack Gelof. Austin Adams set the guests from Charm City down in order in the eighth. Scott Alexander survived a bases loaded situation in the ninth, riding The Curse of the Leadoff Double to keep the A’s alive only to see them succumb as Craig Kimbrel earned his 22nd save of the year.

The thumbnail biography of Baltimore’s starting pitcher, Albert Suárez , in the team’s media guide should have been printed by Rand McNally. The 34 year old righty has pitched professionally in Princeton, NJ; Wappinger Falls, NY; Port Charlotte, FL; Bowling Green, OH; Charlotte, NC; Montgomery, AL; Little Rock, AK; Sacramento, San Francisco, and San José, CA; Reno, NV; Tokyo; and Daegu, South Korea.

The media guide gives us his lifetime ERA through 2023 in the US minor leagues (3.65), the Japanese major leagues (3.00); the Korea Baseball Association (3.04), and MLB (4.51). It should have told us his GPS. He was 4-2, 2.43 for the Orioles when he toed the rubber in the bottom of the first this evening.

Suárez turned in a fine performance tonight. breezing through six innings while 86 pitches, 63 for strikes, and permitting two runs, both earned, to cross the plate. They came on four hits, two of them home runs, and but one walk. He notched a half a dozen Ks and improved his basic stats to 5-2, 2.48. He was followed on the mound for Baltimore by Jacob Webb, Yannier Canpo, and Kimbrel.

The victorious Orioles feather their nest in the first two innings; after that they were scoreless. They went ahead with an unearned run in the first when Gunnar Henderson, who had led off with a single, moved on to second when Adley Rutschmann grounded out to third, stole third, and kept on running after Shea Langliers’ throw sailed into left field. They picked up another two runs on back to back doubles by Jordan Westburg and Austin Hays, a throwing error by Harris, and four walks. All those walks made both runs earned.

The green and gold on the board with Miguel Andújar’s 408 foot solo home run off an 84 mph cutter from Suárea and another solo shot, this one by Langliers, in the seventh that had Baltimore’s Colton Cowser leaping over the center field fence in a vain attempt to bring it down

The series will continue with two afternoon games this weekend. Both are scheduled to start at 1:07. Saturday’s probable starters are Luis Medina (1-3 , 4.80) for the Athletics and Cade Povich (1-2, 4.05) for the Orioles. For Sunday, they’ll be Mitch Spence (5-4, 4.15) and Baltimore’s Grayson Rodríguez (10-5, 3.45).