Matt Olson belted a three-run homer that proved to be the big hit in a 10-run third inning and five pitchers combined for a one-hitter as the Oakland A's cruised to a 10-0 victory over the Baltimore Orioles Wednesday night at Camden Yards.
The A's won their sixth straight game thanks to that big inning, and Baltimore now has dropped six in a row. Oakland now has won the first two games of this series and are 5-0 against Baltimore in 2018.
In addition to Olson's big blast, Matt Chapman twice drove in runs in that inning. He finished with three RBIs in the third like Olson and started the scoring with a two-run double and ended it with an RBI single.
Chapman's double made it 2-0 before Jed Lowrie and Khris Davis both added RBI singles. Olson then belted his three-run shot to left that gave Oakland a 7-0 lead.
But the A's were not done yet. Jonathan Lucroy came through with a two-run single before Chapman drove in the 10th run of the inning with his single. Oakland's first 11 batters that inning reached base, and the A's banged out 10 hits in the third, ending starter Andrew Cashner's night early.
Cashner gave up eight runs on eight hits in two-plus innings, falling to 4-15 and suffering his fifth loss in a row.
But in an interesting twist of baseball fate, the Oakland starter did not even get the win. That's because it was Liam Hendriks, the Australian who usually pitches out of the bullpen. He started but worked just one inning - giving up Baltimore's only hit, a Trey Mancini single.
Daniel Mengden, a starter for most of the season, came on in the second inning and threw five no-hit innings. He earned the victory and improved to 7-6 this year.
This was the second consecutive night that Oakland scored all of its runs in the third inning. The A's did it Tuesday in a 3-2 victory.
Oakland finished this game 7-for-20 with runners in scoring position. The final 20 Oriole batters went down in order as they did not get a hit after the first.
--Field Level Media
Oakland | Baltimore | |
Liam Hendriks | Player | Andrew Cashner |
No Decision | W/L | Loss |
1.0 | IP | 2.0 |
0 | Strikeouts | 1 |
1 | Hits | 8 |
0.00 | ERA | 36.00 |
Oakland | Baltimore | |
Ramon Laureano | Player | Trey Mancini |
3 | Hits | 1 |
0 | RBI | 0 |
0 | HR | 0 |
6 | TB | 1 |
.600 | Avg | .500 |