Orioles at Athletics
The Oakland Athletics have been playing well at home of late and look to continue that trend against a team struggling on the road when they host the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday for the middle contest of their three-game set. The Athletics posted a 6-4 victory in the series opener for their sixth win in seven games at Oakland Coliseum as they squandered an early 4-1 lead before Jed Lowrie singled in the tiebreaking run in the sixth inning.
Lowrie finished with three hits for his third consecutive multi-hit performance and is 9-for-21 with two homers and five RBIs during his five-game hitting streak. Adam Jones went 3-for-4 with a solo blast in the loss for Baltimore, which has lost 10 straight on the road. Jones played in his 1,500th game with the Orioles, becoming the eighth player in team history to do so. Manny Machado, who went 1-for-3 on Friday, has been held without a hit in only six of his 32 games this season.
TV: 9:05 p.m. ET, MASN2 (Baltimore), NBCS California (Oakland)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Orioles RH Kevin Gausman (2-2, 4.15 ERA) vs. Athletics RH Trevor Cahill (1-1, 3.00)
Gausman has been solid since being tagged by Minnesota for six runs over four innings in his season debut, allowing fewer than three runs in four of his last five starts and three in the other. The 27-year-old native of Colorado is coming off a victory over Detroit on Sunday in which he gave up one run and five hits over 5 2/3 frames. Gausman has made three career starts against Oakland, going 1-2 with a 4.24 ERA.
Cahill will be making the fourth start of his second career stint with Oakland and second at home. The 30-year-old Californian suffered a loss at Houston on Sunday, when he yielded four runs - three earned - and four hits over six innings. Cahill has pitched well against the Orioles in his career, going 3-1 with 2.42 ERA in four starts.
WALK-OFFS
1. Orioles OF Mark Trumbo has gone 5-for-16 - including a pair of two-hit efforts - in four games after missing the first month of the season with a quadriceps injury.
2. Oakland C Jonathan Lucroy, who played in his 1,000th major-league game on Friday, has hit safely in four of his last five contests - recording two three-hit performances in that span.
3. Baltimore 2B Jonathan Schoop (oblique) began a rehab assignment with Double-A Bowie on Friday and hopes ot be back in the Orioles' lineup Tuesday against Kansas City.