The Oakland Athletics losing streak climbed to seven games as the Baltimore Orioles beat them Monday night 4-2 at Camden Yards. Gio Gonzalez was roughed up for four runs in the first two innings and the Orioles bullpen put together a strong effort to hold on to victory. The A’s remain seven games out of first, but this losing streak is starting to get out of hand.
The Orioles jumped on top in the first on a Vladimir Guerrero single to left field. The A’s minimized the damage as Guerrero was thrown out trying to stretch the single into a double. However, the Orioles added three more runs in the second inning on two RBI singles and a sacrifice fly.
Gio Gonzalez settled down but the A’s offense could not get enough runs on the board to make up the difference. One notable performance was Adam Rosales hitting a home run in his first major league game since last August. His two-run homer in the fourth put the A’s in a position to come back, but they couldn’t capitalize. The A’s have to be pleased by Rosales effort nonetheless.
Brian Matusz put together 5 1/3 innings of work before the O’s bullpen slammed the door. Jim Johnson, Koji Uehara, and Kevin Gregg combined to throw 3 2/3 innings of perfect ball to secure the win.
The two teams square off Tuesday afternoon at 4:05pm pacific with Guillermo Moscoso battling Chris Jakubauskas. The game will be broadcast on CSN California.