The Athletics beat the Orioles 3-2 in extra innings on Friday night, pushing their record to 11-16 on the year and clearing the Angels for third place in the AL West. The A's are now 6-5 in one-run games this year.
Ross Stripling came up big, going 5.2 innings and allowing 2 runs on 6 hits with 3 strikeouts and no walks. The righty dropped his season ERA to 4.98 with the effort.
Stripling got out of a big spot in the third. With men on first and third after a Ryan O'Hearn single that tied the game at 1-1, Stripling got Anthony Santander to fly out to right on a sharply hit line drive to end the inning.
Stripling gave up a solo home run to Cedric Mullins in the 4th but made it through the rest of the outing unscathed. He was pulled in the 6th with a man on second but TJ McFarland came in and got Mullins to ground out to keep the Orioles off the board.
Back ✌️ back W’s pic.twitter.com/AGjZFEUdCI
— Oakland A's (@Athletics) April 27, 2024
Brent Rooker had a couple major clutch hits at the end of the game. He doubled in the 9th and Abraham Toro drove him in two batters later to tie the game at 2. Then Rooker doubled again in the 10th, this time notching the game winning RBI.
Shea Langeliers blasted his 6th home run of the year, tying him for 5th overall and first among all catchers.
The A's bullpen was nails again, with McFarland, Mitch Spence, and Mason Miller coming in to shut down the Orioles offense for a combined 4.1 innings. Spence pitched 3 scoreless, getting 2 strikeouts without allowing a hit.
Miller came in and closed out the game for his 7th save on the year. His fastball was again sitting over 100 mph and he looks absolutely unhittable at the moment.
The A's will be back at it again on Saturday at 1:05pm PDT. Lefty JP Sears will take the mound for the Athletics. He'll face off against lefty Cole Irvin.