By Eric He
The Associated Press
OAKLAND — Brent Rooker and Max Schuemann hit 3-run homers and the Oakland Athletics had five home runs overall in a 19-8 rout of the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday.
The A’s homered in each of the first four innings for the first time since 2003, with Shea Langeliers and Tyler Nevin also leaving the park. Kyle McCann hit a two-run shot in the eighth. Oakland led 10-0 after two innings and 17-1 after six.
“Everyone was raking,” McCann said.
“It’s good to see the team hitting like that because later on, you can build off of it,” he added. “Hitting’s contagious.”
Rooker, who had three hits and drove in four runs, put the A’s up 3-0 in the first. Schuemann’s blast in the second came during a seven-run inning in which eight straight Oakland batters reached base.
A’s manager Mark Kotsay called the game his team’s best offensive performance of the season. Oakland, which scored 20 runs against the Marlins on May 4, is the only team to score 19 or more runs in multiple games this season.
“They didn’t give their bats away,” Kotsay said. “Even though we had a nice lead, they continued to take good quality at-bats. They didn’t try to hit home runs. They continued to get the pitches in the zone that they can handle, and that’s great on their part today.”
Langeliers added a 2-run homer in the third, his 17th of the season to lead all catchers. Nevin’s blast put the A’s up 13-1 in the fourth. Miguel Andujar added three hits and drove in three runs. Nevin and Brett Harris also had three hits each. Oakland had 18 hits and Baltimore had 16 in front of an announced crowd of 8,526 at the Coliseum.
The 19 runs and 18 hits Baltimore gave up were season highs.
“These kind of games happen, and unfortunately we gave out a lot of runs,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said.
The A’s have won four of five, while the Orioles — who have the third best winning percentage in baseball — are in danger of dropping both series against Oakland this season with a loss on Sunday. Oakland has scored at least five runs in four of its last five games.
“We know we have a good group here,” McCann said. “Earlier in the season, we hadn’t been doing what we thought we would be doing, but we’re going finish the second half strong.”
Oakland chased Baltimore starter Cade Povich (1-3) before he even recorded an out in the second inning. Povich, making his sixth career start and coming off his first career win, gave up eight runs in his shortest start.
“It doesn’t matter what team it is,” Povich said. “At this level, if you’re not coming out with your best stuff, it’s going to happen to you.”
A’s starter Luis Medina (2-3) allowed a run and six hits in five innings.
Adley Rutschman hit a 3-run homer in the seventh for the Orioles, who scored seven runs in the final three innings off the A’s bullpen. James McCann, a catcher, pitched the eighth for the Orioles with the team down 11 runs.
ROSTER MOVES
Athletics: LHP Sean Newcomb and IF Aledmys Díaz were released before the game. Both had been designated for assignment earlier in the week.
UP NEXT
RHP Mitch Spence (5-4, 4.15 ERA) pitches for the A’s against RHP Grayson Rodriguez (10-3, 3.45 ERA) for the Orioles in the final game of the three-game set.
