The Baltimore Orioles got the two things Monday night that had been hard to find in recent games — offense and good bullpen work.
It’s why they snapped a four-game losing streak in the series opener with the Oakland A’s, and Baltimore hopes for more of the same in the second game Tuesday.
The Orioles rolled to a 12-4 victory in the first game. They got homers from Jonathan Villar and Trey Mancini, triples from Cedric Mullins (two) and Richie Martin (one) and went 5-for-13 with runners in scoring position.
Villar drove in four runs while Mullins knocked in three, and Hanser Alberto and Mancini both drove in two. Martin and Mullins went into Monday batting .087 and .091, respectively.
Martin went 3-for-4 with three runs scored while Mullins went 2-for-2 with two runs scored. The former’s average jumped to .185, and the latter is at .167.
“I’m just really happy for both of them,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said. “To get some big hits, that was huge.”
Hyde also talked about how he badly he felt for Chris Davis, who went 0-for-5 and set a major league record for a hitless streak by a position player. He’s 0-for-49 going back to last year.
“He hit three balls on the nose,” Hyde said. “To go through what he’s going through, and to still play the defense he’s playing … speaks really highly of his character. Tough to put yourself in his shoes and what he’s going through.”
Defense from Davis and others helped starter Andrew Cashner make it through 5 1/3 innings and get the win. Jimmy Yacabonis, Mychal Givens and Nate Karns combined to throw 3 2/3 shutout innings — the first time the Baltimore bullpen has not given up a run this season.
Oakland, meanwhile, found its own slide continuing.
The A’s have dropped four in a row and just couldn’t seem to make the right plays at the right times. Starter Marco Estrada lasted just four innings and took the loss after giving up six runs on nine hits.
“I think we just got beat up a little bit in Houston and got off to a slow start (Monday),” Oakland manager Bob Melvin said.
Oakland is 0-4 on the road, but Melvin said he didn’t put much stock in that because it’s so early in the year. The A’s have six more games on this trip.
The A’s found plenty of offense in Monday’s loss. They finished with 11 hits despite scoring only four runs but they went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position and stranded eight.
Matt Chapman helped, finishing with three hits in his fourth multi-hit game this season. He has reached base safely in 12 of the 13 games in which he has come to bat.
“We’re getting hits, making plays sometimes, making good pitches, but it just seems like we can’t string it all together maybe at one time,” Chapman said.
The second game of the series will feature Oakland left-hander Brett Anderson (2-0, 2.38) against John Means (1-0, 1.59), making his first start this season for the Orioles after three relief appearances spanning 5 2/3 innings.
Anderson is 0-2 with a 7.53 ERA versus the Orioles in his career. Means, who has given the Orioles help out of the bullpen thanks to a wicked change-up, will be making his first career appearance against the A’s.