Baltimore, MD – Chris Davis belted a solo home run and knocked in four runs while Wei-Yin Chen tossed seven innings of one-run ball as the Orioles downed the Athletics, 10-1, in the middle game of three straight at Camden Yards on Saturday.
Chen (2-0) scattered six hits and walked two with four strikeouts in the start. Adam Jones added three hits and scored three times and Ronny Paulino tallied two RBI for Baltimore, which has won five of its last six.
Tyson Ross (1-1) was charged for nine runs on 11 hits and one walk in four- plus innings to take the loss. Jonny Gomes accounted for the only Oakland run with a solo blast in the sixth as the A's saw their three-game winning streak halted.
"It's definitely a learning experience," said Ross. "I just have to take a look back and try to figure out what I did differently and try to just learn from it."
Baltimore got on the scoreboard in a big way with five runs in the bottom of the second inning.
Jones led off the frame with an infield single before Wilson Betemit and Davis each singled, with Davis' hit scoring Jones. A botched pickoff attempt from Kurt Suzuki moved Betemit and Davis to second and third, respectively, before Paulino plated two with a single to center field.
After a Ryan Flaherty ground out, Robert Andino stroked a single into center field, scoring Paulino for a 4-0 lead. Nolan Reimold followed with a single to center before J.J. Hardy's sacrifice fly scored Andino for the fifth run of the frame.
"It felt really good, especially when your pitcher runs into trouble in the first inning and then comes down and just mows them down the rest of the game," said Davis. "It was good for us to put some distance between us and give our bullpen a break."
The O's added another run in the third as Jones hit a leadoff single and came around to score on Betemit's double, giving Baltimore a 6-0 lead.
Baltimore continued to pour it on in the fifth as a leadoff walk to Hardy was followed by consecutive singles from Nick Markakis and Jones, with Jones plating Hardy for a 7-0 edge.
After Betemit grounded out, Davis lifted a single to right field, scoring Jones and Markakis to extend the margin to 9-0.
Oakland finally got on the board in the sixth on Gomes' solo blast, but Davis responded in the seventh with a solo shot to account for the final margin.
Game Notes
In a pregame ceremony behind the bullpens in left-center field, a larger-than- life-size bronze statue of Hall-of-Famer Frank Robinson was unveiled on the 56th anniversary of Robinson's first major league home run...The Orioles have won 56 consecutive games when allowing two or fewer runs...Sunday's series finale features two right-handers as Bartolo Colon toes the rubber for Oakland against Tommy Hunter.
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