A pair of American League teams from opposite coasts finish up a weekend series on the diamond in Charm City. The Oakland A’s are on the road as they conclude a three-game series with the Baltimore Orioles Sunday afternoon. In the opening game of the series Friday night, it was the Orioles picking up a 5-2 victory to draw first blood in the series. Which team manages to come up victorious here in the series finale to leave town on a positive note? This article was published prior to the conclusion of the middle game of the series from Oriole Park at Camden Yards Saturday night.
Oakland hung tough against the Orioles but couldn’t find a way to come up with enough offense to earn the victory Friday night. The A’s entered Saturday last in the AL West, 36.5 games behind the Astros for the division lead. They were 23.5 games behind the Blue Jays for the third and final wild card spot in the American League. On Friday night, Oakland finished with six hits with no player recording more than one in the game. Tony Kemp drove in both runs for the A’s with a two-run single in the fifth inning. JP Sears didn’t factor in the decision as he threw six innings, allowing two runs on six hits with one walk and five strikeouts. Domingo Acevedo (3-3) took the loss as he gave up three runs on two hits with no walks or strikeouts while hitting a batter in one-third of an inning.
Adrian Martinez is on the mound for Oakland as he makes his seventh start of the season i n this contest. He comes in 3-3 with a 5.28 ERA, a 1.345 WHIP, nine walks and 25 strikeouts over 29 innings of work this season. Martinez earned the win in his last start, which came at home against the Yankees last Sunday. He threw 5.1 innings, allowing one run on three hits with two walks and six strikeouts in a game the A’s won 4-1. In his last three starts, Martinez is 1-2 with a 4.50 ERA, a 1.29 WHIP, seven walks and 14 strikeouts over 14 innings of action. Martinez makes his first career start against the Orioles here in his seventh major league outing. As a result, this marks his first career outing at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Prior to being recalled, Martinez was 5-7 with a 5.72 ERA, a 1.416 WHIP, 33 walks and 100 strikeouts over 89.2 innings in 18 starts for Triple-A Las Vegas of the Pacific Coast League.