The Athletics came up just short in a 4-3, 10-inning loss to the Orioles on Mark Kotsay Bobblehead Night at Sutter Health Park, a game that kept swinging back and forth before Baltimore finally landed the last punch.
Baltimore got on the board first in the second inning, and it started with Dylan Beavers’ two-out RBI single after a hit batter and a walk. The inning then turned messy for A’s starter Jacob Lopez when Carlos Narváez sent a slow comebacker back to the mound and Lopez threw it away trying to make the play himself, letting the Orioles’ second run score. Baltimore had a chance for more, but the A’s cut down Beavers at the plate on a wild play to end the inning.
The A’s had an immediate opening to answer in the bottom half. Tommy White and Max Muncy opened with back-to-back singles, putting runners on the corners with one out, but Brandon Young shut the door by retiring the next two hitters.
Lopez settled in after the rough second and held Baltimore down over the next three innings. He finished with two runs, one earned, on three hits across five innings, with three walks and six strikeouts. It was a gritty line considering how shaky that second inning looked.
Young was even sharper for much of the night. The Orioles right-hander allowed only three singles through his first five innings, using the A’s aggressive swings to pile up quick outs.
The A’s kept leaving chances on the table. In the sixth, Zack Gelof reached on an infield single and stole second with two outs, but Young escaped again by getting White to fly out and strand two. Scott Blewett, who replaced Lopez in the sixth, gave the A’s two scoreless innings and kept them within reach.
Jonah Heim finally cracked Baltimore’s shutout bid in the seventh. With two outs, he launched his 12th homer of the season to right field off Young, trimming the Orioles’ lead to 2-1.
From there, the game tightened even more. Luis Medina worked a scoreless eighth for the A’s, while Young was done after seven innings of one-run ball against an offense that had been thinned by injuries.
The A’s then put together their best rally of the night in the bottom of the eighth against Rico Garcia. He hit Bolte, Jeff McNeil followed with a single, and Gelof’s sacrifice bunt pushed both runners up. Lawrence Butler delivered with an opposite-field RBI single to tie it at 2, but McNeil was thrown out trying to score from second, and Butler was left at second when the inning ended.
Hogan Harris kept the game tied with a scoreless ninth, and Heim helped again by throwing out Colton Cowser trying to steal second.
Extra innings tilted Baltimore’s way. Brady Basso got the first two outs of the 10th, then gave up back-to-back RBI singles as the Orioles jumped ahead 4-2. Gelof answered with a two-out RBI single off Alex Hoppe to make it 4-3, but Hoppe retired Butler to close out his first major-league save.
The A’s fought to force extras, but they still came up short. They have just three walk-off wins this season, with the last one coming on June 19.
The series continues Sunday, when the A’s will try to get back in the win column and force a rubber game. They have not announced a starter, while the Orioles will send right-hander Shane Baz to the mound with a series win in mind.
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