Rutschman homers in 9th to lift Orioles past Athletics 8-7
BALTIMORE (AP) — Adley Rutschman led off the ninth inning with a tiebreaking homer off Trevor May, and the Baltimore Orioles also got a long ball from hot-hitting Ryan Mountcastle in an 8-7 victory over the struggling Oakland Athletics on Thursday.
Mountcastle's sixth home run, his fourth of the four-game series, sparked a four-run third inning that provided Baltimore with a 7-4 lead.
Oakland pulled even behind Brent Rooker, who homered twice and drove in five runs.
In the ninth, Rutschman drove the second pitch from May (2-1) into the center-field seats. Now in his second season after being selected No. 1 in the 2019 amateur draft, Rutschman had never before ended a big league game with a home run.
Félix Bautista (1-1) worked a perfect ninth.
After hitting a first-inning sacrifice fly, Rooker put the A's up 4-3 with a three-run homer in the third inning and tied the game at 7 with a solo shot in the fifth. It was his first career multi-homer game and first by an Oakland player this season.
But the Athletics dropped three of four in Baltimore to conclude 1-6 trip that began in Tampa Bay.
The game featured a memorable Orioles debut by Ryan O'Hearn, who had two hits and three RBIs.
Obtained for cash from Kansas City in January, O'Hearn opened the season in the minors despite batting .375 with three homers during spring training. Summoned from Triple-A Norfolk before the game, O'Hearn delivered a two-run single in the second inning and added a sacrifice fly in a four-run third that put Baltimore up 7-4.
It was his first three-RBI game since Aug. 4, 2021, against the Chicago White Sox.
Oakland starter Adam Oller yielded seven runs and eight hits over 2 1/3 innings before being replaced by Adrián Martínez, who struck out five in 3 2/3 hitless innings.
Facing the team he pitched for in 2021-22, Orioles starter Cole Irvin gave up six runs, five hits and a pair of walks in four innings in the starts with Baltimore. Irvin is 0-2 with a 10.66 ERA.
