BALTIMORE—The Oakland Athletics took advantage of Baltimore Orioles closer Craig Kimbrel blowing a second consecutive save opportunity to rally for a 7–6, series-deciding victory on Sunday.
Kimbrel, a nine-time all-star, wound up departing the game with back tightness.
“I don’t know how long, what the timetable is with Craig, or if any at all,” Orioles Manager Brandon Hyde said. “We’ll see. I think we’ve been playing pretty good baseball. We’ve just had a couple unfortunate kind of endings this series.”
Two nights after he threw only eight of 24 pitches for strikes, Kimbrel (3–1) threw six straight balls to open his outing. The fifth of those errant pitches prompted the first visit from Mr. Hyde and team medical staff.
“The way he was walking around didn’t look right,” Mr. Hyde said.
Kimbrel convinced the manager to let him continue the at-bat against Kyle McCann, who drove Kimbrel’s 3–2 offering into the seats next to the out-of-town scoreboard in right-center field.
Kimbrel then exited after a second visit that again included medical staff, and Dillon Tate completed the inning for an Orioles team that is now 2–4 in one-run games.
“Honestly, I think we trust our pitching staff,” Baltimore catcher Adley Rutschman said. “There [are] going to be ups and downs. I don’t think anyone’s worried.”
Seth Brown hit his second homer and Brent Rooker singled in two runs off Orioles starter Albert Suarez in Oakland’s highest-scoring showing during a 10-game road trip.
Tyler Nevin connected off Danny Coulombe in the seventh to close the A’s deficit to one run, before McCann’s shot helped Oakland close its road trip with four wins.
Kyle Muller retired seven of eight batters he faced in relief, and Austin Adams and T.J. MacFarland (1–0) bridged the gap to Lucas Erceg, who threw a scoreless ninth for his first career save.
“Kyle’s been throwing the ball really well,” A’s Manager Mark Kotsay said. “And without that type of performance from Kyle today, we wouldn’t have had that type of opportunity.”
Ryan Mountcastle and Rutschman each connected for their fourth home runs for the Orioles. Ramon Urias also homered to bring Baltimore’s league-leading team total to 44, including seven during the three-game set.
Trainer’s Room
Orioles: Third baseman Jordan Westburg was unavailable Sunday due to illness, Mr. Hyde said.Up Next
A’s: Begin a 10-game home stand against Pittsburgh on Monday when right-hander Joe Boyle (1–4, 7.06 earned-run average) tries to go deeper than his last outing, a three-inning loss to the Yankees in New York.Orioles: Begin a four-game series against the Yankees on Monday with right-hander Grayson Rodriguez (3–1, 4.45) trying to rebound from his roughest outing of 2024, a seven-run, 4 1/3-inning road loss to the Los Angeles Angels.
