Orioles complete sweep with 12-1 thrashing of Athletics, Mateo hits inside-the-park homer (updated)

OAKLAND – Jorge Mateo paused before sprinting out of the batter’s box, knowing he hit JP Sears’ changeup a long way, thinking maybe it would clear the fence in left-center field. He slowed as he got halfway to second base, realized that Lawrence Butler wouldn’t make the catch or contain the ball, and slipped into another gear.

The Jorge Mateo gear that few players can find.

Mateo dived across home plate, with the Athletics botching the relay and unable to challenge him. His first home run since April 30, in a month where he hit six of them.

Austin Hays drove in two runs on a ball that deflected off Sears and bounced into shallow left field to pad the lead.

The Orioles wouldn’t just sweep the Athletics. They decided to get creative with it.

Kyle Bradish chose a dominant approach, tossing six scoreless innings. Ryan Mountcastle hit a 439-foot three-run homer, Gunnar Henderson had four hits and came within a single of the cycle and the Orioles rolled to a 12-1 victory before an announced crowd of 16,198 that left them 6-3 on the road trip.

They are 77-47 overall, moving 30 games above .500 for the first time since the conclusion of the 2014 season. They lead the idle Rays by three.

The sweep is their eighth this year. They outhit the Athletics 17-4.

"A 6-3 road trip is really impressive and it shows the grit and grind of our guys and how much they fought," said manager Brandon Hyde. "It's not easy to come out to the West Coast. Everybody's tired today, everybody's tired the last couple days. The travel gets to you, different time zone, the whole thing, and I've seen it work the other way. I'm really proud of how hard our guys fought all the way, all nine of these games."

"I feel like it's just been our MO all year," Henderson said. "No matter what the situations brings and what the travel brings, we're going to go out there and play our game and just continue to get better and better throughout each and every series."

Bradish chiseled his ERA to 3.03, tied with Gerrit Cole for lowest in the American League. He allowed two hits, walked one and struck out eight.

The month of August has been particularly good to Bradish, who’s allowed five runs and fanned 27 in 23 2/3 innings. He is the undisputed staff ace.

"He's definitely looking like someone who's got a 3-ERA or below, which is a top-of-the-rotation type of guy," Hyde said. "Nice that we're giving him a little bit of a break in between starts, too. I think that's been helpful for all our guys up to this point."

Bradish struck out five of the first six batters and seven of nine, and he didn’t allow a baserunner until Zack Gelof singled with one out in the fourth.

Tony Kemp led off the fifth with a walk and Bradish hit Carlos Pérez, but Jordan Díaz grounded into a double play. Nick Allen reached on an infield single leading off the sixth, and the next three batters flied out – the first outfield putouts for the Orioles.

"Just doing me," Bradish said. "I know I'm capable of doing this every time out. Just locating the ball. I know I have good stuff, so going out there, putting up good numbers, having a good offense behind me. The whole team's playing good ball right now."

The Orioles loaded the bases with one out in the first inning and Ramón Urías beat out a potential double play grounder for a 1-0 lead. Mountcastle singled to extend his on-base streak to 26 games.

Mateo batted with two outs in the second, saw his fly ball hit the bottom of the fence beyond Butler’s reach, and broke into a sprint. Third base coach Tony Mansolino waved him home, and players moved past the top step to applaud.

"The whole dugout was yelling to 'send him, send him,'" Hyde said. "He is so fun to watch, and great to see. He's had his struggles, and to see him contribute the way he did today, really happy for him. ... It's a lot of fun to watch him hit a ball in the gap and run."

This is the 25^th inside-the-park homer in club history, per STATS. The most recent came from Trey Mancini, of course, in his final Camden Yards at-bat with the Orioles on July 29, 2022.

Mateo’s ball didn’t hit anyone in the head.

Hays had the last road inside-the-park homer on Aug. 11, 2020 in Philadelphia.

"After I stepped on second base I really thought to myself I had a good chance there," Mateo said via interpreter Brandon Quinones. "Honestly, it just felt really good because I was able to help the team win today, and that's the most important thing really, just help the team."

Mateo assumed that Butler was making the catch, which is why he slowed.

"Once he got closer I was like, 'Man, there's no way,' but once I saw that the ball hit the dirt, I really started to take off," said Mateo, who ranks the moment No. 2 in his career behind his major league debut.

The day kept getting worse for the A’s. Hays was credited with two RBIs on a shot up the middle that struck Sears and hopped over the left side of the infield. Hays was thrown out trying for the double, but he’s collected six hits in his last five games, including three doubles and two home runs.

Mountcastle singled in his first two at-bats and demolished a sweeper in the fourth, the ball leaving his bat at 112.1 mph after Jordan Westburg’s leadoff double and Adley Rutschman’s two-out walk.

Henderson doubled and produced his sixth triple, becoming the first Orioles rookie with that total since 1973 and the fourth overall. He batted again with one out in the seventh and hit the right field foul pole for his 21^st homer, tying for the team lead, and an 8-0 lead.

Needing a single in the eighth for the cycle, Henderson pulled a Zach Neal fastball past first base and down the right field line for a run-scoring double.

"What an amazing game by him," Hyde said. "Some left-on-left stuff. He's 22 years old and he's the Rookie of the Year in the American League."

Henderson is the youngest player in franchise history with four-extra base hits in a game. Cal Ripken Jr. was 23 years and 10 days on Sept. 3, 1983.

Teammates in the dugout motioned for Henderson, the fourth Orioles rookie with at least 11 total bases in a game, to go back to first base.

"Gunnar plays the game at one speed, and that's hard, and it's the right way," Hyde said. "Unless he tripped over the bag, I didn't see that happening. Just because that's how hard he plays.

"There were some guys, they were teasing him about it, but maybe he's working on his OPS. I don't know. He plays the game a million miles an hour and it's hard for him, I'm sure, to pull up."

"Well if it was me I would have fallen at first base and just stayed there," Mateo quipped, "but he has every right to make his own decision and he chose to go to second."

There will be other chances for a young player this talented.

"I would assume he's going to have 650 at-bats a year for a while now," Hyde said, "so I think he's going to have the opportunity."

Henderson, who tied a team record with four extra-base hits and joined Chris Richard in 2000 as the only rookies, was preparing for the possibility and how he'd react to it.

"It kind of went through my head like before the at-bat, if that situation happened, then I'd just sit on the fact that if it was meant to be, it would be a true single," he said. "I just play the game hard, and a double opportunity was there, so I feel like that is just the way I play and it wasn't meant to be."

How many teammates gave him a hard time? The estimate was the vast majority.

"Yeah, about 95 percent of them," he said, smiling. "There were a few that agreed with me, but like I said, just trying to play the game the right way. And just so happened to be a double."

Westburg and Rutschman had RBI singles in the seventh and eighth, respectively, before Henderson produced his second career four-hit game – the other July 6 at Yankee Stadium. Urías’ RBI single gave the Orioles a 12-1 lead.

Brent Rooker broke up the combined shutout bid by homering off Nick Vespi in the bottom of the seventh.

Today marked the club’s first road sweep since July 7-9 in Minnesota.

A fun time had by all on the visiting side - from the inside-the-parker to Bradish's early strikeout binge to the cycle tease.

"It was really all around just a great day," Henderson said.

* Anthony Santander received treatment on his lower back again this morning and could return to the lineup on Tuesday.

“It’s OK,” he said. “Right now, I don’t feel any better, but hopefully for Tuesday I can be ready to go.”

“It’s still sore,” Hyde said. “Nice to give him an off-day tomorrow, and hopefully he can work through it. But it’s just something that’s kind of day-to-day right now.”

The back has undergone steady maintenance this season.

“I’ve been dealing with that all year,” he said. “Started the first day in Boston, I would say cold weather. But it’s gone away, it’s come back. It hit me really bad in San Diego.”

Santander is shut down from baseball activities. He’s resting the back the last two days in Oakland and during the off-day.

Cross-country fights aren’t helping his condition, and the Orioles have one more West Coast trip – Sept. 1-6 against the Diamondbacks and Angels.

* Left-hander Danny Coulombe threw a bullpen session yesterday, with no discomfort in his left biceps, and he expects to pitch in one rehab game before his possible reinstatement from the injured list.

“I feel really good,” he said. “That’s their decision, but I feel really good and I feel like I’m ready to contribute.”

Coulombe expected his absence to be brief, but understood the decision to put him on the IL retroactive to Aug. 9.

“When you’re in a seven-man ‘pen, it’s really hard to have a reliever who’s not available for a few days, so I think that played into the decision,” he said. “But I feel really good and I’m excited to get going again.”

* The last thread connecting reliever Mychal Givens to the Orioles is snipped.

Givens was designated for assignment last Sunday, cleared unconditional release waivers today and was released.

The reunion lasted six games and only four innings. He allowed six runs (five earned) and four hits with six walks.

A knee injury in spring training and shoulder injury in the regular season prevented the Orioles from getting any sort of return on the free-agent contract that guaranteed $5 million this season.

* Hyde said he isn’t adjusting the rotation following the off-day, which keeps Grayson Rodriguez, Jack Flaherty and Dean Kremer in line against the Blue Jays at Camden Yards.

Toronto hasn’t listed its starters.

* John Means was extended to four innings and 57 pitches today at Double-A Bowie. He surrendered a leadoff home run in the first and shut out Altoona the rest of the way.

Means allowed two hits, walked none and struck out four. His pitch count has increased from 28 to 45 to 57.

Houston Roth tossed three scoreless innings behind Means. Dan Hammer struck out five in two scoreless and hitless innings.

Billy Cook hit his 18^th home run, and Silas Ardoin hit his first with Bowie. Ardoin also had an RBI double in the 13^th inning before Greg Cullen’s walk-off homer.

Jackson Holliday singled, tripled, walked three times and drove in a run.

Colton Cowser hit his 12^th home run today with Triple-A Norfolk and came within a triple of the cycle. Heston Kjerstad tripled.

Chayce McDermott allowed three runs and struck out seven in six innings. Austin Voth was charged with two runs and two hits in two-thirds of an inning.