Ryan Mountcastle’s career night dooms Oakland in 12-8 loss

The struggling Oakland A’s, losers of five straight games and their Ace Kyle Muller looked to turn things around in Baltimore against the Orioles and right-handed pitcher Grayson Rodriguez . The A’s were 2-8 coming in and struggling in almost every facet of the game. They fell to Baltimore 5-1 in the first game of the series on Monday night and were desperately in need of positive outing Tuesday at Camden Yards.

In the top of the first inning, Brent Rooker got the A’s on the board early with line drive to left field that scored Tony Kemp. With one out in the bottom of the first inning, Ryan Mountcastle hit a sacrifice fly to center field, that scored Austin Hays tying the game at 1-1.

Jace Peterson’s line drive single in the top of the third inning scored Ryan Noda to give the A’s a 2-1 lead. Baltimore again tied the game in the third as Mountcastle continued his scoring stroke against Muller, with a single to center that scored Jorge Mateo and tied the game 2-2. With runners on first and second, with two outs Kyle Muller battled Anthony Santander for ten pitches before getting the switch hitter to strike out swinging to end the inning.

The Orioles took a 3-2 in the bottom of the fourth inning when James McCann scored Ramon Urias on a single to right field. Peterson made a phenomenal, backhanded play at third and threw McCann out at home to keep the Orioles off the board. A ground ball to Tony Kemp ended the inning.

Grayson Rodriguez walked the bases loaded in the fifth inning and was replaced by Austin Voth. Kevin Smith delivered a single through the gap and scored Ryan Noda to tie the game. Conner Capel drove in his second run of the game with a softly hit groundout that scored Brent Rooker and put Oakland ahead 4-3. Shea Langeliers then took Austin Voth deep for a three-run homer to put the A’s up 7-3.

Oakland had its first lead in a long time, but the Orioles immediately began chipping away. Mountcastle took Muller deep for a three-run home run to make it 7-6. That would be the end of the night for Muller who allowed seven hits, three walks and six runs in just four innings.

Zach Jackson replaced Muller and got himself out of a jam, getting Terrin Vavra to flyout, striking out of Gunnar Henderson, and ending the inning on a Jorge Mateo pop out to Jace Peterson. Trevor May entered in the sixth and allowed a game tying home run to Austin Hays.

Things came completely unraveled for the A’s in the seventh. Sam Moll struck out Ryan McKenna for the first out but then walked Gunnar Henderson and hit Mateo. He then got Cedric Mullins to pop out for the second out and was replaced by Dany Jimenez. Hays singled to give Baltimore the 8-7 lead. After an intentional walk to Adler Rutschman, the Mountcastle show continued as he connected for a grand slam to extend Baltimore’s lead to 12-7.

The A’s added their final run in the ninth when Peterson doubled home Jesus Aguilar to make it 12-8. However, Smith and Capel struck out to end the inning.

The journey might have looked different, but the result was the same. The Oakland hitters put together what could arguably be their most impressive night of hitting, but the pitching staff would be the undoing for the Athletics tonight. Oakland has now lost six straight and will look to rebound tomorrow behind Ken Waldichuk. Dean Kremer will be on the mound for Baltimore.