When the Athletics have their offense rolling, they’ve shown the ability to really tack on runs.
They’ll try for that again Sunday afternoon when their road series concludes against the Baltimore Orioles.
This is the rubber game of a three-game series between last-place teams in separate American League divisions.
Baltimore needs to win in order to forge a split of their six-game season series.
After an earlier stop in Washington, the Athletics are 3-2 as their road trip winds down.
“You get through and you grind,” Athletics manager Mark Kotsay said.
The Athletics have eclipsed the 10-run mark in three of their last 14 games. The team’s pitching has been stellar so far in the series.
“They’re not names that are familiar, by any means, but it’s good stuff,” Baltimore interim manager Tony Mansolino said of the Athletics’ pitchers. “This team over there on the other side, they’re not that far off. It’s a couple really good arms they threw at us, the starters, the last two nights.”
The Athletics will be shuffling their pitching plans after right-hander Luis Severino (6-11, 4.82 ERA) was placed on the 15-day injured list Saturday because of a left oblique strain.
Severino, considered the team’s ace, was the scheduled starter after four consecutive victories. He topped playoff contenders Cleveland, Houston and Seattle before going six innings and giving up three runs in Tuesday’s 16-7 victory at Washington. During Severino’s winning streak, he has struck out 22 batters to go with six walks. In those 23 innings, he surrendered 17 hits.
That’s much different from his June 7 home matchup with Baltimore, which tagged him for six runs (five earned) in 5 2/3 innings as he took the loss. Ramon Laureano and Colton Cowser homered off Severino in that game, but Laureano has been traded to San Diego since that matchup.
And now Severino won’t be returning to the mound to face the Orioles. Instead, right-hander Luis Morales (0-0, 4.50 ERA) will throw in his second big-league game.
“Results extend from the starting pitching,” Kotsay said. “It all starts with starting pitching.”
The Orioles will go with left-hander Cade Povich (2-6, 5.25), whose lone big-league outing since mid-June went awry in Monday’s loss at Philadelphia. He gave up four runs in 5 2/3 innings.
In parts of two seasons in the majors, Povich’s lone matchup with the Athletics was a disaster in a July 2024 game when he gave up eight runs in one inning in an 19-8 loss.
The Orioles will need stout pitching if their offense doesn’t perk up. They had three hits on Friday and four on Saturday.
“Back-to-back nights like that, probably not what we would want,” Mansolino said. “There’s a lot of pressure on those top five guys to create something. I just think, with where the roster is at and where the lineup is at, there’s a lot of pressure on those first five guys and they’re going to live up to it and they’re going to have better nights.”
Because of deals made at the trade deadline, the Orioles are sending out a relatively inexperienced lineup.
“A lot of the guys who are here now started in Triple-A, so they weren’t in the big leagues because they had things to work on, and now they get thrust into the big leagues,” Mansolino said.