Baltimore beat Oakland 5-3 Sunday as Leody Taveras laced a ground-rule double to right-center field off starter Jack Perkins in the third inning to score Coby Mayo and give the Orioles a lead they would not relinquish.
Taveras struck again in the sixth, doubling on a ground ball to left to score both Dylan Beavers and Mayo and push the Baltimore lead to 4-0.
The Athletics made it a game in the bottom of the sixth, scoring twice on a Lawrence Butler walk and a Donovan Walton hit by pitch, then cut the deficit to one on a Carlos Cortes single in the eighth before Taveras drew a walk in the ninth that ultimately capped the scoring at 5-3. Colton Cowser also homered in the fifth, his 13th of the season, to extend the Baltimore advantage to 2-0 before the A's mounted their charge.
Taveras finished 2-for-3 with three RBI and two doubles.
“I love his approach. He understands what the pitcher is trying to do in those situations and he’s taking what the pitcher gives him,” Orioles manager Craig Albernaz said. “The first double he was just trying to get the ball in the outfield... and then the one down the line, too, looking for something that he could drive in the outfield, and he was just ahead of it a little bit. The approach was right and he gets rewarded for it. When it’s time for the moment, he has an idea of what he’s trying to do.”
Cowser went 1-for-4 with his home run, a run scored, and one RBI, while Mayo crossed the plate twice.
Starting pitcher Shane Baz earned the win, allowing two earned runs over 5.2 innings while striking out four and lost his command in the sixth, but the bullpen picked him up. Andrew Kittredge recorded the save with a scoreless ninth. Perkins took the loss after allowing one earned run across five innings, though Baltimore also benefited from three Athletics errors — one each by Butler, Zack Gelof, and Perkins himself.
One area of concern to watch: Pete Alonso, who has been dealing with a calf injury of some kind, went 0-for-5 and struck out three times, and is 0-for-13 in his last three games. Samuel Basallo went 0-for-4 and was seen slamming his bat. "He wants to get the results," Albernaz said. "He's a young player so he's developing in front of our eyes at the big league level... and he gets frustrated."
The Orioles, now 67-69, sit 1.0 games back of the final AL wild-card spot heading into the final month of the season.