Al Suarez found himself in the visiting dugout in Oakland last night when starting for the Baltimore Orioles. Which doesn’t seem strange per se, but Suarez came up with Oakland’s cross-town rival San Francisco in 2016-17. The Bay Area was his home, but as we know the Orioles resurrected his career. And we saw that on display last night. Suarez’s line: 6.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 6 K.
Manager Brandon Hyde (a Bay Area native) was complimentary about Suarez after the game, acknowledging some of the work that Suarez had put in since his last start (quote courtesy of Jake Rill, MLB.com):
So good. Good curveball working tonight. The fastball had a bunch of life. We talked about it his last start — just an outstanding six full innings.
Gunnar Henderson led the game off with a double, and later tried to steal third, the throw was errant, allowing Henderson to score. So before Suarez even stepped on the field he had a 1-0 lead. However he’d surrender a solo home run to Andujar in the last of the first, and we went onto the second inning tied.
However Jordan Westburg got on base with a double, which was immediately followed by an RBI-double by Austin Hays. And the O’s took the lead back at 2-1. I said a few games ago that doubles are a great way to score runs overall. Back-to-back doubles get a run in, and leave another runner in scoring position.
And the Birds would end up loading the bases later in the second inning, and Adley Rutschman would draw a walk, extending the lead to 3-1. And if there’s any criticism to be made of this game, it’s only getting one run there. You have to get more than one there. Luckily it didn’t hurt the O’s. Oakland would close the lead to 3-2 on a solo homer by Langeliers in the seventh, but the bullpen held strong after that and the O’s took game one in Oakland, 3-2.
The series continues this afternoon at the Oakland Coliseum. Cade Povich gets the start for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by Oakland’s Luis Medina. Game time is set for just after 4 PM.
Birdland Crush 