The Orioles took the first game of their last-ever series at the Oakland Coliseum with a tightly-pitched game on Friday night.
Farewell, Oakland Coliseum. It’s been a historic place, from the A’s winning their second straight World Series in 1973 behind Reggie Jackson and Rollie Fingers to Dallas Braden’s 2010 perfect game on Mother’s Day to concerts by The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd and The Who.
Never an offense-friendly stadium, the Coliseum’s old-school dimensions now make it a rarity among parks. Ultimately, Friday night’s game, the opener in the Baltimore Orioles’ last series in Oakland, was a typical low-scoring Coliseum affair.
For the second straight time, Albert Suárez threw six innings, limiting the Athletics to two solo home runs and racking up six strikeouts. The Orioles didn’t provide Suárez much run support, driving in just two earned runs against an inexperienced Hogan Harris, but a bullpen collective of Jacob Webb, Yennier Cano and Craig Kimbrel was fresh today, and up for the challenge.
This was a well-pitched game, but you wouldn’t have known it from the first inning, where both starters looked like sitting ducks. Oakland’s Hogan Harris allowed a leadoff single to Gunnar Henderson, who advanced on a groundout and scampered home when Oakland catcher Shea Langeliers airmailed a throw to third base. Meanwhile, Old Man Albert Suárez threw a flat cutter to long-time Yankee Miguel Andújar, who tied the game by smacking it 402 feet.
But Suárez recovered more quickly than did Harris. Back to work off the Oakland lefty, the O’s scored two more runs in the second. A pair of tenacious right-handed hitters, Jordan Westburg and birthday boy Austin Hays, hit back-to-back doubles, Westburg’s 107 mph off the bat and traveling 385 feet, and Hays’ a rocket down the line that drove home the second run. Harris struggled badly to end the inning, having to throw nearly 40 pitches. After loading the bases with a pair of walks, he was lucky to escape with just one run allowed when Adley Rutschman, flashing that incredible plate awareness, walked a run in.
Then all of a sudden, the run scoring dried up. Oakland second baseman Zack Gelof hit a second-inning single and thereafter, nada. Albert Suárez retired 12 in a row, four on the first pitch. He allowed a sixth-inning single, but then got Andújar, Brent Rooker, and Tyler Soderstrom in order, Rooker staring at a good-looking changeup.
Suárez’s flyball stuff is not without a tendency to “go boom,” and it was catcher Shea Langeliers, fed a high fastball, who drove Suárez from the game with a seventh-inning home run to make this a 3-2 game.
Oakland pulled Harris after five innings, but despite some noisy blasts by Orioles hitters (especially Hays, 3-for-4 with two doubles, and Jordan Westburg, who kept flying to the warning track), the Athletics bullpen kept the Orioles from adding to their lead. Righty Tyler Ferguson held the line in the sixth, old friend T.J. McFarland retired the side in the seventh with some newer-looking sidearmer stuff, and Austin Adams pitched a scoreless eighth.
With just a one-run lead, the Orioles needed nine outs from their own bullpen. Jacob Webb was equal to the task, striking out two Athletics in the seventh.
The eighth was a nail-biter. Yennier Cano allowed an infield single to Oakland shortstop Max Schuemann, a ball Gunnar Henderson nearly made a great play on. Schuemann stole second and made it to third, representing the tying run with just one out. Facing home run author Miguel Andújar with the count 2-2, Yennier Cano found the gorgeous sinker: down went Andújar. The A’s best hitter, Brent Rooker, hit a ball to the left side. It took a weird bounce, but Jordan Westburg made a great scoop and fired to first to keep the game 3-2.
The Orioles had a chance to add insurance in the top of the ninth, but they whiffed. They had put men on first and third with no outs after Ramón Urías hit a pinch-hit double and Jorge Mateo legged out a single. But Cedric Mullins, running for Urías, got caught in a rundown, Gunnar Henderson grounded out, and after the A’s Scott Alexander intentionally walked Adley, Ryan Mountcastle struck out to leave the bases loaded.
That meant Craig Kimbrel was going to be asked for yet another one-run save. Was he up for it? Yes, dear reader, and emphatically so. This didn’t even look difficult. Kimbrel threw ten pitches, seven for strikeouts, and was rewarded with a quick lineout, a strikeout looking, and a strikeout swinging.
We’re coming to the end of an era, as the Orioles play just two more games in Oakland’s historic venue this weekend. Friday night’s win, coming in old-school low-scoring fashion, gives the Orioles a 145-146 lifetime record at the Coliseum. With a sweep, they could close out this chapter of history above .500. Cade Povich and Grayson Rodriguez take their turns next. Stay tuned.