BALTIMORE – Adam Jones had four hits, including two solo home runs, and Wade Miley turned in his seventh quality start of the season as the Baltimore Orioles took down the Oakland Athletics, 7-3, in the first game of their three-game series.
It was only Miley’s second quality start in his last 15 outings, but the fourth straight outing in which he allowed three runs or less. His ERA now sits at 5.11 on the season and his record is now 7-10.
The A’s got the first run on the board in the top of the second inning on a RBI double off the bat of Matt Chapman. Chapman belted a liner off the right field wall that was able to score Ryon Healy. Jonathan Schoop prevented a second run from scoring on the play by throwing Chad Pinder out at home on a lunging tag from Welington Castillo at the plate.
Baltimore quickly responded in the bottom half of the second with an Adam Jones’ single and Trey Mancini drawing a four-pitch walk. Chris Davis hit a liner to the left field wall that looked to be playable for Rajai Davis, however, the ball came free as his glove hit the wall. That gave the Orioles bases loaded before Mark Trumbo’s sac fly tied the ball game at one.
Jones put the O’s on top in the fourth with a solo home run for his second hit of the night. That was the 23rd homer on the season for the Orioles captain. He has done some serious damage to Oakland this season as he is hitting .524 (11-for-21) with four home runs, six runs and nine RBI. He is also batting .342 (26-for-76) in the month of August.
The top half of the fifth saw Pinder reach base once again on a single right up the middle. Dustin Garneau reached on a single to left to give Oakland two runners on with one out. Miley proceeded to load the bases by walking Boog Powell on four pitches in the next at bat, but Schoop was able to turn a double play before the speedy Rajai Davis could make it down the first base line to keep the inning alive and have the tying run score.
The Orioles made Oakland pay for not tying the ball game in the bottom half of the frame following a Seth Smith leadoff walk. Manny Machado reached base on an error by Chapman at third base that likely would have led to a double play. Instead, two runners were on base when Schoop smacked his 27th home run on the season into the Orioles bullpen to make it 5-1 in favor of the home team. That was the end of the night for Oakland starter Chris Smith.
Ryan Dull was summoned to take over for Smith, and Jones needed just one pitch to give the Orioles faithful another souvenir to increase the lead to 6-1. It was the tenth time this season the Orioles went back-to-back and the second multi home run game for Jones this season. He now has 12 multi homer games for his career and 24 on the season.
Wade Miley could not give the Orioles a shutdown inning as he served up a solo home run to Jed Lowrie in the sixth inning to get the Athletics a little bit closer. That would be all for the A’s offense as Miley limited them to two runs in his six-plus innings of work.
“Sometimes when you face a team the second time and they know what he is going to feature and still be able to be productive,” Buck Showatler said after the game. “We got a couple of big double play balls.”
Boog Powell hit his first Major League home run in the eighth off Brad Brach to make it a 6-3 ballgame. It is only fitting that Powell’s first homer came in Baltimore and he is supposed to meet the Orioles legend before the game tomorrow.
Castillo added one more run in the eighth on another solo home run to make it 7-3 before Alec Asher and Zach Britton pitched a clean ninth inning to preserve the win. The outing gives Britton his 60th consecutive save recorded, adding to his AL record.
Quick notes:
Buck Showalter is now one win away from tying Hall of Famer Clark Griffith for 23rd all-time in managerial wins.
Speaking of milestones, Chris Davis is three hits away from 1,000 for his career, while Schoop is three RBI away from tying Robert Alomar for most RBI by an Orioles second baseman.
The second game of this three-game set will feature right-hander Paul Blackburn (3-1, 3.46 ERA) on the hill for the A’s, while Ubaldo Jimenez (5-8, 6.47) will start for Baltimore.
