Kiss it goodbye as the Sacramento A’s Jonah Heim heads home after hitting a seventh inning home run against the Baltimore Orioles at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento on Fri Aug 28, 2026 (AP News photo)

A’s Rally Falls One Run Short in Ten 4-3

By Mauricio Segura

WEST SACRAMENTO- The Athletics found themselves in a two-run hole for most of the game, tied it in the eighth, then watched Baltimore build another two-run lead in the tenth. Coby Mayo and Christian Encarnacion-Strand delivered consecutive two-out RBI singles off Brady Basso, and the Orioles held off the A’s 4-3 in ten innings. Sacramento still had life in the bottom half when Zack Gelof singled home automatic runner Alika Williams with two outs, but Alex Hoppe retired Lawrence Butler to finish the game. The loss dropped the Athletics to 53-82 and clinched a fifth consecutive losing season.

Baltimore built its first advantage against Jacob Lopez in the second. Coby Mayo was hit by a pitch, Leody Taveras drew a one-out walk, and Dylan Beavers brought Mayo home with a two-out single to right. Taveras then scored when Carlos Narváez reached on Lopez’s fielding error.

Lopez prevented the inning from getting worse when Blaze Alexander’s infield single sent Beavers toward the plate and the left-hander threw home to Jonah Heim for the out. Lopez recovered, allowing two runs (one earned) on three hits and three walks over five innings while striking out six. The outing extended his run to nine straight starts allowing two runs or fewer, continuing the longest such stretch by an Athletics traditional starter since Justin Duchscherer went 11 straight in 2008.

The A’s had chances against Brandon Young but struggled to turn baserunners into runs. Tommy White and Max Muncy singled in the second, only for Carlos Cortes to strike out and Heim to ground out. Muncy added another single in the fifth, while Gelof singled, stole second and watched Butler draw a walk in the sixth. Young escaped all of it. He carried the 2-0 lead into the seventh before Heim finally broke through, driving a two-out solo homer to right for his 12th of the season. Young finished seven innings with five hits, one run, one walk and four strikeouts.

The comeback reached even in the eighth. Henry Bolte was hit by a pitch from Rico Garcia, Jeff McNeil singled to left, and Gelof moved both runners with a sacrifice bunt. Butler followed with a single to left that scored Bolte, tying the game 2-2. The same play also kept the Athletics from taking the lead, as Beavers threw McNeil out at home. Butler entered the game riding a five-game hitting streak and batting .362 over his previous 16 games, and his tying single pushed that streak to six.

From there, neither side gave much away. Luis Medina retired the Orioles in order in the eighth. Hogan Harris worked around a Colton Cowser walk in the ninth with help from Heim, who threw Cowser out trying to steal second. Baltimore’s Andrew Kittredge answered with a scoreless bottom of the ninth despite Cortes’ one-out single, sending the game to extras.

That put Basso in a difficult spot with Narváez beginning the 10th at second. After Alexander lined out, Basso intentionally put Pete Alonso on first. Gunnar Henderson ran for Alonso, Jackson Holliday struck out, and Baltimore was down to its final out of the inning. Mayo then singled Narváez home, and Encarnacion-Strand followed with another single to score Henderson for a 4-2 lead. It was a rough turn for Basso, who had posted a 1.74 ERA and allowed no run in 11 of 13 appearances since his July recall before this game.

The Athletics made one final push. With Williams starting at second, Hoppe struck out Bolte and retired McNeil before Gelof lined a single to center to make it 4-3. Butler then grounded out to end it. Gelof finished 2-for-4 with a stolen base, a sacrifice bunt and an RBI, while Muncy also had two hits. The A’s collected nine hits to Baltimore’s six, but the Orioles made their six count just enough.

Game 2 is set for 7:05 p.m. Pacific Saturday night, with Baltimore sending Shane Baz (4-14, 4.04 ERA, 135 strikeouts) to the mound, and Jack Perkins (3-9, 6.68 ERA, 104 strikeouts) for the Athletics according to Manager Kotsay Friday night in his post game presser.

Costa Rican-born Mauricio Segura has been covering sports in the Bay Area since 2001 for a variety of magazines and newspapers, as well as his own publication, Golden Bay Times.