Friday May 13 vs the Athletics

Opponent: Oakland Athletics
Outcome: W
Score: 4-1
Streak: W1
Record: 5-29
Rank: 7th
GB: 17.0

This might be the most unlikely Orioles victory of the season.  The A's came into town with a record of 24-9, the second best in all of baseball (the Mets at 23-8 had the best record).  They were in first in the AL West with a 7 1/2 game lead over the Rangers.  They had lost their previous two games against the Tigers in Detroit but before that had just won fourteen straight games and 18 of their previous 19.  Their starting pitcher this night, Dave Stewart, had won all eight of his starts.  So it would not be wrong to say that the A's were on a roll.  The Orioles on the other hand had just lost four straight and were outscored 26-6 over that stretch. 

The game certainly started off the way most expected.  Carney Lansford led off the game with a single and went to third when Dave Henderson doubled.  Jose Canseco singled to knock Lansford in and the Bash Brothers looked like they were in business.  But Jay Tibbs got Dave Parker to strikeout and Mark McGwire and Ron Hassey to fly out and limit the A's to just the one run.

Stewart started off the game pitching well.  He hadn't given up a hit and had only allowed one baserunner (on an Eddie Murray walk) when he faced Murray with two outs in the bottom of the fourth.  But Murray then homered for the Orioles first hit and Fred Lynn followed with another home run.  The back-to-back shots put the Birds up 2-1.  Keith Hughes made it 3-1 in the bottom of the fifth with an RBI single and Larry Sheets had an RBI single of his own in the bottom of the eighth to finish the scoring.

Meanwhile Tibbs was giving up hits and walks but managed to keep the A's from scoring.  It helped that a couple baserunners (Don Baylor and Canseco) were caught stealing.  The A's ended up leaving 7 players on base and went 1-8 with runners in scoring position.  So the A's were getting on base - they just weren't scoring.  That trend would not continue.