Taveras, Cowser Fuel Baltimore's 5-3 Win Over Athletics

Leody Taveras drove in 3 runs on two doubles and Colton Cowser added a 386-foot home run as Baltimore beat the Athletics 5-3 on August 30. The Orioles built a 4-0 lead through six innings, survived a gut-punch Athletics rally, then sealed it on a ninth-inning wild pitch.

Baltimore did its damage early and in bunches. Taveras got things started in the third, lacing a ground rule double that scored Mayo to make it 1-0. Cowser went deep in the fifth — a 386-foot shot to center — to push the lead to 2-0. Then the sixth inning turned into a Taveras showcase: he doubled to left, scoring both Mayo and Beavers, and suddenly Baltimore was sitting on a 4-0 cushion that looked like more than enough.

It wasn't. The Athletics clawed back in the bottom of the sixth, stringing together a walk and a hit-by-pitch to score two runs and make it 4-2. Then came the eighth, and the moment that flipped this game on its head: Cortes singled to right, scoring Walton and moving Stefanic to third. That one swing of the bat pushed the Athletics' win probability from 24% to 48% — a 24-point lurch that made this a genuine one-run ballgame with two innings to play. What had looked like a comfortable Baltimore afternoon suddenly felt very fragile. The Athletics' bullpen, to their credit, had been sharp — Luis Medina and Chris Roycroft each threw a scoreless inning without allowing a hit — and the crowd had every reason to believe a comeback was on.

Baltimore answered in the ninth the unglamorous way: Cowser scored on a wild pitch by Alvarado to make it 5-3, and that insurance run proved to be exactly what the Orioles needed. On the mound, Shane Baz went 5.2 innings, allowing 2 earned runs on 5 hits with 3 walks and 4 strikeouts — a workmanlike outing that kept Baltimore in front long enough for the offense to do its job. Jack Perkins started for the Athletics and went 5.0 innings, giving up 4 hits and 4 walks while striking out 5, allowing 1 earned run — though the damage done against him was more than the ERA line suggests, as Baltimore's early crooked numbers came on his watch. The story of the night, though, appears to be Taveras: 2-for-3 with 3 RBI and two doubles that each changed the complexion of the game. When Baltimore needed a hit, he delivered it twice.