Baltimore, MD – Wei-Yin Chen struck out 12 to help the Baltimore Orioles avoid a three-game sweep at the hands of the Oakland Athletics with a 6-1 win on Sunday.
Chen (9-6) set a record for most strikeouts in one game by a Taiwanese-born pitcher and gave up just one unearned run on three hits with four walks over 5 2/3 innings for the Orioles, who had dropped five of six coming in.
Matt Wieters hit a three-run home run while Omar Quintanilla went 3-for-4 with a solo home run and two runs scored in the win.
Yoenis Cespedes had two hits and drove in the lone run for the Athletics, who came into the game having won 18 of their 21 games in July. Travis Blackley (3-3) was touched for five runs on six hits in just five innings of work.
Baltimore plated four in the third inning to take the lead. Quintanilla led off with a bunt single and moved to third thanks to a bad pickoff throw by Blackley. After J.J. Hardy walked, Adam Jones one-hopped an RBI double off the wall in left-center. Wieters followed with a shot near the same spot, but his went over the wall for his 13th homer of the season.
The Orioles added a run in the fifth. Hardy led off with a single and Jones followed with a walk. Wieters then hit a sharp grounder to third that Brandon Inge fielded and went to second for the force. Jemile Weeks then threw to first for the double play, but it went a bit high and was off the glove of Chris Carter, allowing Hardy to score for a 5-0 lead. Carter was charged with the error on the play.
Oakland didn't get a runner past second for the first five innings, but managed to push one across in the sixth. Weeks led off with a walk, and an error on Quintanilla helped put men at first and second. After Josh Reddick struck out, Cespedes singled to right to make it a 5-1 game.
Derek Norris came up later in the inning with the bases loaded and two outs, but popped out to end the threat.
Quintanilla atoned for his mistake in the bottom of the inning when he hit a one-out, solo shot to right for his first homer with Baltimore.
Oakland put men on first and third with two outs in the seventh, but Troy Patton came on and got Reddick to foul out.
The A's left men on base in both the eighth and ninth innings without scoring and stranded 10 in the game.
Game Notes
Each team has won three games in the season series...Baltimore starts three games in New York on Monday...Oakland heads back home to open a 10-game homestand with three against Tampa starting on Monday...Before the game, the A's acquired catcher George Kottaras from the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for relief pitcher Fautino De Los Santos.
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.