WEST SACRAMENTO, California–What happened? The Orioles began their six-game West Coast trip with a three-game sweep in Seattle, running their winning streak to six games. After moving on to Sacramento, the temporary home of the Athletics, they lost two of three.
Entering the weekend, the Athletics had lost 20 of 22, but they managed to beat the Orioles by a run on Friday night and 5-1 on Sunday before 8,836 at Sutter Health Park.
A lackluster start from Tomoyuki Sugano (4-4) didn’t help. He allowed four runs, three earned, and tied a career high with eight hits in five innings.
The Orioles (26-38) had baserunners in each inning but the ninth, and scored only in the second.
Jacob Lopez, a left-hander with a 7.02 ERA, started and allowed an unearned run in four innings. Sean Newcomb, another lefty, relieved him and allowed three hits in three scoreless innings. The Orioles fell to 4-13 against left-handed starters.
“The story’s just left-handed pitching again,” interim manager Tony Mansolino said. “Left-handed pitching got us. We’ve got to figure it out. We know the hitting guys, the players, everyone’s working on it hard.
“There’s probably some solutions down the pipeline, too. I think everyone’s aware of that, as well. Just another game where we’ve seen left-handed pitching that shouldn’t beat us up did beat us up. We’ve got to be better.”
Mansolino thinks that infielder Jordan Westburg, who hasn’t played since April 26th because of a strained left hamstring, will be part of that solution. He should be back on Tuesday when the Orioles open a homestand against Detroit.
Outfielder Tyler O’Neill, who hit .313 with an 1.170 OPS against left-handers last season but is just 2-for-23 (.087) this season, could help, too.
Grant Holman, T.J. McFarland and Mason Miller combined to hold the Orioles scoreless in the final two innings.
Tyler Soderstrom’s bloop single to center in the bottom of the first scored Lawrence Butler, giving the Athletics (26-41) a 1-0 lead.
Ramón Urías doubled to lead off the second against Lopez. With two outs and Urías at third and Emmanuel Rivera at first, Athletics catcher Jhonny Pereda’s wild pickoff throw to third allowed Urías to score. Unfortunately, Rivera tried to get to third, running the Orioles out of the inning and nearly being tagged out before Urías scored.
Pereda’s RBI double scored Luis Urías in the second to put the Orioles behind, 2-1. Butler reached on an error by Gunnar Henderson, allowing Pereda to score, and Denzel Clarke came in on Jacob Wilson’s RBI single.
Max Muncy homered against Bryan Baker in the eighth for a 5-1 Athletics lead.
The Orioles won four of six games on the trip.
“Any time you go on the West Coast, even the last couple years when we’ve been winning 100 games and making runs in the American League, you go on the West Coast for six games, it’s tough,” Mansolino said. “There’s issues with sleeping through the morning, everyone’s up at 6 a.m., the days are long, it’s hot, we haven’t been in the heat.
“You walk out of this thing 4-2 against a really good Seattle team and a Sacramento team, they play tough, man. They played really good. Those first three hitters were hard on us. 4-2, I’ll take it.”
How did Sugano pitch? This was Sugano’s shortest start since April 28th.
“It looked like he was laboring from the get-go,” Mansolino said. “Some balls were left up, balls fell in right there. We probably didn’t help him the best on defense a little bit. I think in the three-run inning, a couple balls got through that could’ve mitigated some of the stress and some of the runs.”
Sugano said he wasn’t bothered by the heat, and he pitched in more oppressive conditions in Japan. It was just a difficult day for him.
“I was mainly trying to get groundouts, but [they] became hits, and they were hitting it pretty well, so I struggled a little bit at the beginning,” Sugano said through his translator.
How is Mayo doing? After a nine-pitch at-bat in the fourth inning, Coby Mayo singled and stole his first base. His average is up to .161.
“He’s trending in the right direction,” Mansolino said. “I think everybody sees it, we’re really excited about Coby. I think he’s in a good place mentally and excited to watch him continue here in the major leagues.”
Mayo has been disappointed before. His first three stints with the Orioles ended quickly, but even though Ryan Mountcastle’s injured list stint is forecasted to be a long one, he’s not assuming he’ll stick with the Orioles.
“There’s a lot of really good players on this team,” Mayo said. “I don’t really know exactly what’s going to be happening in the next few days. If it is me staying here, then I’m going to do everything I can to put a good product on the field.
“Mounty’s a heck of a player and I’m really bummed to see him go down. I feel like when you’re at this stage in Triple-A and you’re kind of sitting around and you’re trying to compete and perform, you kind of know sometimes it takes an injury. You’re never rooting for it; it always sucks to see. But at the end of the day, it’s part of the game and that stuff does happen. So I’m just going to try to be the best player I can and help the team win.”
What does it mean? As Mansolino said, the Orioles must do better against left-handed pitching. They also must play better against teams with losing records. Losing two of three against the Athletics is unacceptable.
What’s the stat of the day? The Athletics’ star rookie shortstop, Jacob Wilson, was 7-for-13 against the Orioles. with four RBIs this weekend. He’s hitting .372 with a .936 OPS.
What’s the word? “I probably lead the league in most ground balls taken out in early work. Manso obviously loves to go out there and work hard, and so do I. Obviously, first base isn’t my main position but it’s kind of taken over right now as my main position, and I’m going to try to be the most prepared first baseman I can be when my name is called to play there.”-Mayo on working with Mansolino on playing first base.
What’s going on in the minor leagues? Five Triple-A Norfolk pitchers combined on a seven-inning no-hitter as the Tides beat Louisville, 4-0, in the second game of a doubleheader. Roansy Contreras, Grant Wolfram, Colin Selby, Kade Strowd and Yaromil Hiraldo combined to strike out 10 and walk two in the no-hitter.
Centerfielder Dylan Beavers homered and had three hits. Chayce McDermott allowed five runs on five hits and four walks in 4 1/3 innings in Norfolk’s 6-5 loss in the first game. Samuel Basallo hit a three-run home run, his 13th. His OPS is up to .960.
Eccel Correa pitched 6 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing two hits in High-A Aberdeen’s 4-1 win over Hudson Valley. Shortstop Griff O’Ferrall homered.
Single-A Delmarva was held to three hits in a 3-1 loss to Fredericksburg.
Double-A Chesapeake’s game with Akron was rained out.
What’s next? After Monday’s offday, the Orioles open a three-game series against the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday night at 6:35 at Camden Yards. The Orioles have yet to name a starter. Detroit will start Sawyer Gipson-Long (0-0, 7.36).
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