WEST SACRAMENTO -- Pushed to the brink repeatedly in another tense road game against the Athletics, the Orioles and their resilient relief corps showed their mettle once more.
Inning after inning, Baltimore’s bend-but-don’t-break bullpen tested the limits of how far it could go without losing the lead. Holding a 4-2 edge, the O’s pitched out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth and did it again in the seventh. With runners on the corners in a one-run game in the eighth, they turned a crucial around-the-horn double play. And in the ninth, they stranded two more runners to secure a 5-3 win over the A’s.
The victory clinched the Orioles’ third straight series win and continued their surge up the American League standings. At 67-69, Baltimore enters Sunday’s series finale just one game out of the third and final AL Wild Card spot.
Five relievers backed starter Shane Baz, who tossed 5 2/3 innings of two-run ball to pick up a win that looked tenuous at best when he allowed a walk and hit a batter with the bases loaded in the sixth. But righty Alex Hoppe induced a groundout to end the inning and keep the Orioles ahead.
Yennier Cano struck out two A’s with the bases loaded to bail out Rico Garcia in the seventh, Cam Sanders got the key double-play ball in the eighth, and Andrew Kittredge worked around two singles in the ninth to pick up his eighth save of the year.
No. 9 hitter Leody Taveras provided the majority of the offense for the Orioles, recording three RBIs with a pair of doubles.