One game out of the last wild-card spot
That is where Baltimore sit after a 5-3 win over the Athletics in West Sacramento on Saturday night, their fourth in five. Friday’s opener had gone 10 innings and ended 4-3. This one was tidier.
Leody Taveras did most of the damage with two doubles and three RBIs. The first came in the third, after Coby Mayo walked to lead off, when Taveras bounced one off the warning track in right-center to bring him home. Colton Cowser homered on a two-strike count in the fifth for 2-0. Cowser and Mayo each scored twice.
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Baz had lost five straight starts before this
Shane Baz (5-14) went 5 2/3 innings, allowing two runs on five hits with four strikeouts and three walks. His first win in a month, and it nearly slipped away in the sixth.
Oakland loaded the bases with one out. Lawrence Butler took four straight balls to force in a run. Baz then caught Donovan Walton on the left foot with a curveball, and at 4-2 the manager had seen enough.
Yennier Cano cleaned it up in the seventh with the bases loaded and one out, striking out Zack Gelof and then Butler. Jack Perkins (3-10), going for consecutive wins, gave Baltimore two runs, one earned, on four hits across five innings.
Three double plays, and the last one mattered
Taveras opened the gap in the sixth, two outs, Jose Suarez pitching, a two-run double pulled down the third-base line.
Oakland pulled to 4-3 in the eighth on a Carlos Cortes RBI single. Then Jonah Heim came up with runners at the corners and grounded into Baltimore’s third double play of the night. An unearned run in the ninth padded it, and Andrew Kittredge stranded two for his eighth save.
Cortes finished with two hits and an RBI, Jeff McNeil with two hits and a run. The series finishes Sunday night.
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