BALTIMORE -- Brent Rooker clubbed a three-run home run, and Shea Langeliers drove in two more runs off Shane Baz as the Athletics made all sorts of effort plays in Saturday’s 6-2 victory over the Orioles to show why they’re leading the AL West.
Aaron Civale (4-1) pitched five scoreless innings at Camden Yards in his club’s third-straight victory, one that guarantees the A’s will return to West Sacramento after Sunday’s series finale still holding that division lead.
Most impressively, the veteran right-hander powered through the heart of the O’s order in his final inning to escape a bases-loaded, none-out jam, striking out Adley Rutschman before inducing Pete Alonso and Samuel Basallo into soft flyouts.
Nick Kurtz doubled twice and scored three runs, extending MLB’s longest current on-base streak to 33 games. In the top half of that inning, before Civale's escape act, Kurtz stole third to set up Langeliers' sac fly for the game's fifth run.
Hogan Harris and Scott Barlow each worked a scoreless inning of relief. And after Mark Leiter Jr. allowed Colton Cowser’s pinch-hit, two-run single in the eighth, Coby Thomas singled in the A’s final run to make the bottom of the ninth easier for Joel Kuhnel to close out the game.