Nick Kurtz roped a tiebreaking two-run triple in the fifth inning and the Athletics held on to beat the host Baltimore Orioles 4-3 Friday night in the opener of a three-game series.
Six Athletics pitchers combined for a four-hitter while Jacob Wilson joined Kurtz with two hits. The Athletics have won two games in a row.
Athletics starter Jacob Lopez worked 5 1/3 innings, with two of the three hits allowed going for home runs. He walked two and struck out five, reaching the five-inning level in his fifth consecutive start.
Justin Sterner, Scott Barlow, Joel Kuhnel, Jack Perkins and Hogan Harris worked in relief. Perkins entered in the ninth and gave up a leadoff walk to Adley Rutschman and a run on Samuel Basallo’s two-out single before Harris, who put the potential winning run on base with a walk, notched the final out for his second save.
Pete Alonso and Rutschman homered for the Orioles, who lost for the seventh time in their last nine. Baltimore didn’t threaten often, stranding five runners on base.
Orioles starter Kyle Bradish (1-5) struck out 10 batters in seven innings, but took the loss as he gave up three runs on five hits with one walk.
Alonso’s eighth homer of the season — and fifth in 11 games — opened the scoring with one out in the fourth inning.
Zack Gelof’s run-scoring single started the scoring in the Athletics’ three-run fifth inning, with Kurtz ripping a two-run triple.
Aside from Alonso’s long ball, the only other Baltimore hit through five innings was Rutschman’s single in the first. When Rutschman smashed a solo homer with one out in the sixth, he ended Lopez’s outing.
Wilson’s two-out single in the eighth drove in a run to extend the Athletics’ lead to 4-2 off reliever Trey Gibson, who was appearing in the second game of his big-league career. That run resulted from three singles.
