Ryan Mountcastle is bursting out of his August slump in a big way as the Orioles look to complete a three-game sweep of the Oakland Athletics on Sunday.
Mountcastle hit two of Baltimore five home runs — tying the team’s season high — in an 8-1 win Saturday night, the Orioles’ fourth in a row.
Sunday’s goal will be to focus on the task at hand at not look ahead to Monday when the Toronto Blue Jays arrive for a four-game series between two of the American League’s top wild-card contenders.
Mountcastle endured a brutal end of August, going 1-for-17 over the final five days.
September has been another matter as the first baseman is 5-for-11 with three homers and six RBIs.
“Coming at the right time,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “Just way better swings for me, more under control. Love seeing him hit that ball to right-center. That tells you that he’s seeing the ball well and staying under control at the plate. Nice to see him get going again.”
Baltimore, which moved 10 games over .500 for the first time since May 12, 2017, trails the Blue Jays by 1 1/2 games for the third American League wild-card spot.
The Orioles will go for the sweep behind right-hander Spenser Watkins (4-5, 4.26 ERA), who is looking to snap a personal four-game losing streak.
Last time out, Watkins allowed five runs on six hits over 4 2/3 innings of a loss to the Cleveland Guardians. He lost to Oakland on April 18 despite allowing one run in five innings.
Oakland will counter with rookie right-hander Adrian Martinez (3-3, 5.28), who will make his seventh major league start.
Martinez was recalled from Triple-A Las Vegas on Aug. 28 and beat the New York Yankees, limiting that powerful lineup to a run on three hits over 5 1/3 innings while walking two and striking out six.
“His changeup is probably his best pitch,” A’s catcher Shea Langeliers said after. “It’s just nasty. But today, he did a really good job of locating his fastball. When you locate your fastball, it makes your offspeed that much better.”
Martinez will face another powerful lineup on Sunday. In addition to Mountcastle hitting numbers 20 and 21 on the season, the Orioles also got long balls from Cedric Mullins (No. 13), Anthony Santander (25) and Adley Rutschman (9).
“We’ve got power throughout, we’re athletic,” Hyde said. “Guys are getting better and we’re pretty young. It’s fun to watch.
Mountcastle started the party with two-run shots in the first and third innings.
“Once you hit one, sometimes they tend to come in bunches,” he said, “so hopefully they keep coming.”
The A’s, who have lost four straight, got two hits each from Vimael Machin and Cody Thomas.
Oakland got bad news before the game on Saturday, learning that an MRI revealed a right shoulder strain for reliever Zach Jackson. The rookie is 2-3 with a 3.00 ERA and three saves in 54 appearances. He will rest for a week and then begin rehab. He could return before season’s end.
“We probably will err on the side of caution, but any time a player can finish the season, you want to give him that opportunity,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay said.
–Field Level Media
