Game 34 Recap-
Oakland Athletics 6- Baltimore Orioles 5 10 Innings
Mcafee Coliseum -Oakland,CA
Oakland 2b Mark Ellis hit the decisive walk off homer in the 10th to lift the A’s over the Baltimore Orioles in an afternoon affair Wednesday, 6-5. The Orioles continue to struggle and lose close games, this is their 3rd straight series loss, they have lost 7 of 8 and all seven were decided by 2 runs or less. This was an exciting game that featured some good work by both starters and some late inning heroics by the teams lineups.
RH SP Jeremy Guthrie was solid for Baltimore. The ex-Stanford pitcher threw 5 2/3 innings, allowed 5 hits and 4 runs while walking 3 and striking out 6. His early mistakes in the 1st(rbi ground out) and 3rd(1st ML homer by As C Kirk Suzuki) made it 3-0. The Os rallied for 2 runs in the 6th off of RH SP Joe Blanton.(5 2/3 innings,8 hits, 2 runs, 3 walks and strikeouts) 1b Kevin Millar and C Ramon Hernandez each hit rbi singles for the scores.
The As added a run to the lead in the 6th with 3b Jack Hannahan doubling for a 4-2 margin. Baltimore again rallied and took the lead with 3 runs vs one of the better RH RP in the AL, Andrew Brown.(1 run in 15 IP and .52 era on the season) 2b Brian Roberts drove home 2 runs with a single and 3b Melvin Mora doubled him home for a 5-4 Orioles lead.
Oakland did not go away and tied the game in the 8th. After an error, single and sacrifice bunt,DH Frank Thomas grounded into a perfect double play ball but Hannahan broke it up at 2b with a clean slide that allowed the tying run to score and make it 5-5. Both pens settled down and the game stayed at that score to the 10th.
After RH Lance Cormier got 2 quick outs,Oakland 2b Mark Ellis hit a drive into the left field stands for a home run and the Oakland victory. He was struggling prior to this at bat(0 for 17, had an 0 for 18 slump earlier this year) and was hitting 7th for the 2nd straight day. Tough,tough loss for the Orioles.
Star of the Game-
Ellis- You hit a walk off homer, you get this award!
Orioles Notes-
Blanton was 0 for 5 with a 1.74 era in 7 home starts prior to todays game, this was his ML high 9th start
Next Game-Series-
4 Game series at Kansas City at Kauffman Stadium-
Thursday-8:10 PM
Orioles RH Daniel Cabrera(2-1) vs Royals RH Luke Hochevar(2-1)
