Defensive miscues lead to loss in road trip opener

OAKLAND – In the first game of a 10-game road trip, right-hander Spenser Watkins, trying to hold onto the fifth starter’s spot, gave the Orioles a big effort.

Watkins allowed a first-inning run and nothing after that. He got rolling in the middle innings behind a frequency to throw a lot of first-pitch strikes. He did that to 10 of the first 13 batters he faced.

Watkins would go five innings, allowing two hits and one run with two walks and one strikeout. He threw 67 pitches, 44 for strikes. He threw 30 sliders or cutters among his pitches, and his fastball, which averaged 90.8 mph last year, was at 92.2 mph tonight.

Meanwhile, would the O’s offense and defense be able to back him?

The hitters once again could not get much going and the O’s infield defense unraveled when Oakland produced a big four-run inning in the last of the sixth.

That happened after Watkins left the game, but was quite damaging as Oakland scored four times with two outs – all the runs were unearned – to break a 1-1 tie and go on to a 5-1 win.

The Orioles (3-7) have scored two runs or less seven times to start the year. Their defense had allowed just three unearned runs through the season’s first nine games.

Oakland (6-5) won its home opener in front of a crowd of 17,503 and improved to 15-5 versus Baltimore since 2018.

After Watkins' strong performance, right-hander Joey Krehbiel entered the 1-1 tie in the sixth. He fanned the first two batters by throwing some nasty changeups, but Billy McKinney singled. A Christian Bethancourt grounder to third should have ended the frame tied, but third sacker Ramón Urías bounced the throw past first base as McKinney circled the bases for a 2-1 lead.

That error opened the door and the Athletics kicked it in.

A walk followed and Marcos Diplán came on. He was greeted by an RBI single by Sheldon Neuse, which was followed by a grounder up the middle that Rougned Odor misplayed as another run scored for a 4-1 lead. Cristian Pache’s single made it 5-1. The rally came with two outs and none on.

“Yeah, we just made a couple of mistakes there that cost us," manager Brandon Hyde said. "It’s going to happen. We’re going to make errors. We’re having a tough time covering up offensively a little bit right now. But Krehbiel threw the ball well. Got a ground ball to end the inning there and unfortunately we made a couple of errors that extended their lead.

“We’re playing a lot of close games, so every play matters. Be nice to get some breathing room to make up for an error or two. But we’re pitching extremely well and staying in the game."

The Orioles have surely had their problems scoring runs this year. They produced just 21 in the season’s first nine games and were batting .206/.310/.287 with a .597 OPS as this series began. They had scored two runs or less in six of the first nine games.

And Oakland righty Frankie Montas got rolling against them early on tonight. He faced the minimum 12 batters on 47 pitches through four, allowing no hits and one walk. Montas was Oakland’s opening day starter and was coming off a strong outing against Tampa Bay. Last Wednesday, he gave up just one earned run and five hits against the Rays. He went 1-1 with a 4.76 ERA over his first two outings of the new season.

The O’s finally got a hit and run off him in the top of the fifth to produce a 1-1 tie. Odor walked with one out, the O’s second walk drawn tonight and their 43^rd on the year. The 41 they had through nine games was tied for the American League lead. With two outs, Austin Hays lined a double to right to score Odor for the 1-1 tie. Right fielder Seth Brown made a diving attempt on Hays’ liner, but it kicked off his glove as Odor scored after running on the 3-2 pitch.

To that point, the Orioles had plated 18 of their 22 runs for the year with two outs.

The Athletics had taken a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Leadoff man Tony Kemp walked, moved to third on Sean Murphy’s double to left-center and scored on McKinney’s groundout.

But Watkins got rolling and had a strong outing after Oakland took that early lead. What made it good for him?

"I think just the preparation this week, coming off the last start," he said. "We had a good plan with the pitching coaches and executed it pretty well throughout the week and felt good going into today. Just executing what we worked on."

The Orioles had a run cut down at the plate in the sixth against Montas. Jorge Mateo doubled to leadoff the frame and move up on a grounder. With the infield in, Ryan Mountcastle hit a grounder to first and McKinney fired home to get Mateo and keep the score tied.

They had another run cut down at the plate an inning later. With runners on first and third and one out, Brown turned a fly ball into a 9-2 double play getting Trey Mancini at the plate.

So the road trip starts with a sloppy loss at Oakland, as the Orioles were held to seven hits and went 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position. They are now 0-4 in road games and 2-2 in series openers.