BALTIMORE — Ty Wigginton and Adam Jones delivered
successive sacrifice flies in the sixth inning, and the Baltimore
Orioles got a home run from Nick Markakis in a 5-1 victory over
the Oakland Athletics on Tuesday night.
Jeremy Guthrie (3-4) gave up one run and six hits in six
innings for the Orioles, who took a 3-1 lead without benefit of a hit.
Baltimore's first run came on a throwing error, and the run-scoring fly
balls in the sixth followed two straight walks and a wild pitch by Tyson
Ross (1-3).
Markakis hit a solo homer off Michael Wuertz in the eighth, and Matt
Wieters added an RBI double.
Oakland starter Dallas Braden left after allowing an unearned run
and three hits in four innings. In explaining why the left-hander was
pulled after only 62 pitches, the Athletics called it "a manager's
decision" and would not elaborate.
Braden departed with the score tied at 1. He is winless in three starts
since throwing a perfect game against Tampa Bay on May 9.
The defeat ended Oakland's three-game winning streak, fashioned with an
interleague sweep of San Francisco in which the A's outscored the Giants
10-1.
Oakland had won 13 of its last 15 games against the Orioles and were
15-4 in their previous 19 games at Camden Yards.
After Guthrie threw 113 pitches, the injury-depleted Baltimore bullpen
made the lead stand up. Mark Hendrickson pitched two innings and Will
Ohman worked the ninth.
Before the game, the Orioles put closer Alfredo Simon and setup
man Koji Uehara on the 15-day disabled list.
Oakland took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Jack Cust walked,
took third on a double by Gabe Gross and scored on a groundout by Mark
Ellis.
Baltimore ended Oakland's string of consecutive shutout innings at 23
with an unearned run in the fourth after Braden walked the first two
batters. Trying to complete an inning-ending double play, shortstop
Cliff Pennington threw wildly to first base, allowing Miguel Tejada to
score from third.
Braden rebounded to strike out Wieters, but that would be the last
batter he faced.
Notes
Oakland failed to hit a home run in a seventh consecutive game,
the team's longest such streak since a nine-game run in 1983. …
Orioles DH Luke Scott was scratched with a strained shoulder. He was
replaced by slumping Garrett Atkins, who broke an 0-for-18 skid with a
seventh-inning single. … Oakland OF Coco Crisp was also a late
scratch, due to a strained chest muscle. It was the second straight game
he missed. … Athletics LHP Brett Anderson (left elbow) will throw a
bullpen session in Baltimore, Oakland manager Bob Geren said. If all
goes well, Anderson could come off the DL and start Saturday in Detroit.
… Baltimore OF Corey Patterson and his brother Eric, an Oakland OF,
played in the same game for the first time since April 17, 2008.