BALTIMORE -- The A’s keep making the big plays. The little ones, too.
Brent Rooker clubbed a three-run home run, and Shea Langeliers drove in two more runs off Shane Baz to provide most of the run-scoring for the Athletics in Saturday’s 6-2 victory over the Orioles at Camden Yards.
But that summary -- and Aaron Civale's final line of five scoreless innings -- didn’t do justice to the volume of small but meaningful plays in the Athletics’ third-straight win, which together helped show why this club is leading the AL West.
“We’re playing really well right now,” Rooker said. “I’ve loved the way we’ve competed in every situation. I’ve loved the way we’ve been able to win close games. I’ve loved the way we’ve been able to get out to some leads early and hold on. Kind of ride those leads to more wins. I think everybody’s contributing in a big way.”
You can start with the fifth inning for Civale (4-1), when the veteran right-hander grinded through the heart of the O’s order to escape a bases-loaded, none-out jam, striking out Adley Rutschman before inducing Pete Alonso and Samuel Basallo into soft flyouts.
“It was my mess that I made, and I was happy to be able to clean it up,” said Civale, who has recorded a 2.61 ERA over eight starts. “Trying to minimize. Trying not to do too much. Going into that, if I can escape that with one or two runs, great. and anything better, then obviously that’s awesome.”
Or start with Nick Kurtz, who doubled twice and scored three runs to extend MLB’s longest current on-base streak to 33 games, and pulled off a crucial steal of third base that helped set up Langeliers’ sac-fly to stretch it to 5-0 in the top of the fifth.
Or with Zack Gelof’s barehanded grab at third in the fourth inning -- in only his fourth MLB game there -- to turn a Leody Taveras’ potential bunt single into a second out.
Or even with Tyler Soderstrom’s 14-pitch at-bat, which clearly taxed Baz, who won the battle but lost the war, inducing Soderstrom into an infield popout -- only for Rooker to reach the flag court with his fifth homer of the year three pitches later.
“We credited Sody with the home run, I don’t know if it’s going to go down in the stats,” manager Mark Kotsay deadpanned. “That at-bat really, I know it tired Baz out and gave us an opportunity to get to him. And Rooker hit a mistake.”
After a slow start, complicated by an oblique strain that forced Rooker to miss a bit more than two weeks in April, the two-time All-Star has looked more like his vintage self since in May, slashing .333/.389/.636 with three home runs and 10 driven in.
“I’ve felt better the last week or so,” Rooker said. “Just trying to stick with it, get in the cage, try to find something that works. And the last few days have felt better. The results have been better.”
Civale continues to look like one of the best bargains in baseball after signing a 1-year, $6-million deal just prior to Spring Training.
Although he is yet to work beyond six innings, he’s finished at least five while allowing three or fewer runs in all but one of his eight outings.
He scattered six hits and three walks on Saturday, but also struck out six. Right now, he looks plenty likely to exceed his previous career high of 21 starts with a single team, which came with Cleveland in 2021.
“He hasn’t necessarily been given a full season to go out and start, but he’s had some good runs,” Kotsay said. "He had a good run with the Cubs [last year]. He’s shown signs that he can be a back-end rotation guy and help a club, impact a club in the rotation. We’re getting that out of him right now.”