Orioles surrender 19 runs in lopsided loss to Athletics (updated)

OAKLAND – Cade Povich issued two walks in the first inning and took one of his own.

Brent Rooker, the third batter faced, made loud contact on a cutter that traveled 414 feet to the seats above the out-of-town scoreboard in left field. The ball was in flight as Povich drifted toward the third base line, his head turned in the direction of the landing spot.

The rookie had to watch. He didn’t have to stand on the mound to do it.

He’d leave it for good the next inning.

Max Schuemann also hit a three-run homer after the first two Oakland batters reached in the second. A walk and bloop single followed and Povich was removed from the game, his worst outing in the majors leading to the Orioles’ 19-8 loss before an announced crowd of 8,526 that witnessed five home runs from their team.

The Yankees defeated the Red Sox 14-4, with rookie Ben Rice hitting three home runs, and the Orioles’ lead in the division is down to two games.

Povich was charged with eight runs after Dillon Tate let two inherited score. The left-hander gave up six in 5 1/3 innings in Toronto, but only six combined over his next four starts.

"Just didn’t look sharp today, command-wise," said manager Brandon Hyde.

Tate surrendered two of his own in the second, when Oakland sent 12 batters to the plate. Zack Gelof had a two-run double, and a run also scored on Brett Harris’ two-out infield hit.

Shea Langeliers gave the Athletics a 12-0 lead in the third with a two-run shot off Tate. Former Oriole Tyler Nevin had a solo homer against Cole Irvin in the fourth – he came within a triple of the cycle - and Miguel Andujar upped the lead to 14-1 with an RBI single.

The Athletics hadn’t scored 10 or more runs against the Orioles since June 18, 2019 in a 16-2 win in Oakland. They had 16 runs today by the sixth inning after Andujar’s two-run double off Irvin, and a 17^th on Rooker’s sacrifice fly – the most runs the A’s have ever tallied against the Orioles, who hadn’t surrendered that many since Sept. 10, 2022 against the Red Sox.

There were more. The 19 runs are the most since a 22-7 loss to the Blue Jays on Sept. 12, 2021.

Irvin took one for the team in his return to the Bay Area, allowing five runs in four innings.

"Well, he’s built up, so he’s able to do that," Hyde said. "We just had a tough time pitching these guys today. There was some soft contact, but a lot of hard contact also, and we were out of it pretty early.”

Catcher James McCann pitched the eighth, his second career appearance following a scoreless inning on Aug. 15, 2023 in San Diego. He got two outs, his pitches clocked in the 43-45 mph range, and surrendered a two-run homer to Kyle McCann.

Ryan Mountcastle struck the final big blow, much too late, of course, with a 420-footer in the ninth that was his first since June 7. Ramón Urías singled to bring home Austin Hays, who doubled.

Former Orioles minor leaguer Daz Cameron led off the first with a four-pitch walk and Andujar reached on six. Rooker took a fastball for a strike and hit his 18^th homer.

Nevin started the seven-run second with an infield hit, Harris doubled and Schuemann jumped on a fastball. Cameron walked again – he began the day batting .167 – and Andujar’s soft single sent Povich to the bench.

Povich threw 43 pitches and didn’t induce a swing-and-miss.

"Just not on attack early," he said.

"There’s always stuff to learn from. Obviously not on attack early enough. It doesn’t matter what team it is at this level. If you’re not on attack and coming out with your best stuff, it’s going to happen to you."

Tate allowed two singles, including Langeliers’ RBI hit, the Orioles got a force at home, and Gelof followed with his shot into the left-center gap. The force didn’t complete Povich’s responsibility, though it erased his last runner.

Povich’s ERA rose from 4.05 to 6.51 in 27 2/3 innings. Tate’s ERA grew from 3.38 to 4.31 in 31 1/3.

Tate is a veteran. Povich is learning how to bounce back from adversity at this level.

"I mean, I’m still alive, still breathing," he said. "Just kind of stay the same course, look over stuff, see what was good and what was bad and prepare for the next one."

Today’s game marked the first time that an Orioles starter allowed at least eight runs in one inning or less since Chris Tillman in 2014. Dylan Bundy was charged with seven and didn’t record an out in a 2018 game against the Royals.

The Orioles were 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position last night and stranded nine. They loaded the bases today against Luis Medina with no outs in the third and didn’t score. They had runners on the corners with no outs in the fourth, Cedric Mullins struck out and Hays lifted a sacrifice fly to deep right-center. The Orioles settled for the one run.

“Right now we’re not really rolling with runners in scoring position,” said Hyde, whose club was 4-for-14 with 11 stranded today. “It’s not going to be the same every night. For a few days we might be struggling a little bit. I think at times we’re overswinging. We’re really good when we’re using the whole field and driving the ball the other way. … But you can always pitch and you can play defense.”

The pitching was lacking today. The defense couldn’t save it.

The A’s hadn’t surrendered a homer in six consecutive games until Adley Rutschman’s three-run shot off left-hander Jack O’Loughlin in the seventh. Rutschman began the day batting .398 with a 1.061 OPS from the right side of the plate. Jorge Mateo and Heston Kjerstad came off the bench and singled, and Kjerstad had a run-scoring single off O’Loughlin in the eighth, but the Orioles (56-33) were a long way from rallying.

"These kinds of games happen," Hyde said. "Unfortunately, we gave up a lot of runs there. D-Tate couldn’t really put the fire out. And Cole struggled a little bit. So we just had a tough time keeping them from scoring there.”

* The Orioles transferred reliever Wandisson Charles from Triple-A Norfolk to Double-A Bowie.

Charles had an 8.42 ERA and 2.065 WHIP in 25 games.