The Oakland Athletics managed to both strengthen their place in the playoff race and play a bit of a spoiler on Saturday night, as they defeated the Baltimore Orioles for the second straight game. With the 5-2 win, the A's captured the three-game series and also knocked the Orioles out of first place in the American League East.
Mark Reynolds doubled home a run in the second inning to get the O's on the board first. Baltimore made it a 2-0 lead in the third with a Nate McLouth homer. That would be the last run that the Orioles would be able to bring across, however, as the A's scored five quick runs in the bottom of the third inning to pretty much put the game to bed for the rest of the evening.
Stephen Drew led off the bottom of the third with a home run to cut the lead in half. Josh Reddick added an RBI single to tie things up. Yoenis Cespedes hit an RBI single to follow up and give the A's the lead and Chris Carter capped things off with a two-run double.
Jarrod Parker picked up the win to improve to 11-8 after going seven innings and giving up two runs on seven hits and a walk. The A's try for the sweep on Sunday.
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