Leading 2-1 as they headed into the ninth inning on Sunday, the Baltimore Orioles gave up a pair of runs to the Athletics (53-67) and surrendered the lead. The home half of the ninth went strike out swinging, groundout to second, a Jackson Holliday walk and finally a weak strike out swinging by Jordan Westburg; the final result, a 3-2 loss and another series lost.
A Blown Save And Loss
Keegan Akin (3-2) was called upon to close out the game, his second chance of the series, and he immediately walked the lead-off batter Darell Hernaiz. Akin struck out the next batter but gave up a single to Gio Urshela, placing runners at first and second. With Lawrence Butler pinch running for Urshela, Willie MacIver doubled into left field, easily scoring Hernaiz. Butler, however, ignored the stop sign at third and raced home, scoring when Gunnar Henderson‘s relay throw went to the foul side of the third base line, preventing any chance catcher Alex Jackson had of making the tag.
MACnificent
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— Athletics (@Athletics) August 10, 2025
All Or Nothing On Offense
Westburg did hit his 14th homerun of the season in the fifth inning, a 417 ft. blast to left field. The homerun came after the Orioles ran themselves out of a rally in the fourth. Jeremiah Jackson led off the inning with a triple but was tagged out at home when Greg Allen failed in his one out bunt attempt. Allen further compounded that mistake when he was caught stealing at second base.
His Sunday West
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— Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) August 10, 2025
Baltimore scored their second run in the seventh inning with an assist from Mother Nature. Alex Jackson reached second on a ball that A’s first baseman Nick Kurtz appeared to lose in the sun, dropping it into foul territory. The fair call was upheld upon the Athletic’s challenge. Jackson advanced to third on a passed ball and subsequently scored on Coby Mayo‘s pinch-hit double to center.
During the three game series the Orioles scored eight runs on twelve hits.
Another Wasted Start
Cade Povich took to the bump on Sunday and gave the Orioles a quality start, allowing just the one run on 4 hits with 3 walks and 5 strikeouts over 6.0 innings. He was in line for the win until the ninth inning letdown. Povich pitched out of traffic in each of the first five innings before allowing a lead-off double and a one out RBI single in the sixth inning.
Yennier Cano and Dietrich Enns combined to hold the Athletics off the board in the seventh and eighth innings.
Interim Manager Tony Mansolino summed it up this way, “The A’s have good stuff, it’s not the A’s from a couple years ago. There’s some good stuff. You’ve got to tip your cap to those guys a little bit. But certainly in order to stay competitive, we’re going to have to create some more traffic on the bases.”
2025 Record: 53-65
Next Game: Tues. 8/12 @ 6:35 pm vs. Seattle Mariners