OAKLAND, Calif. - -Another Orioles starter got knocked out in the first inning. Their lineup was again dominated by an Oakland Athletics pitcher making his second career start. And perhaps the most galling thing of all, the Orioles lost a game in which their opponent's offensive output consisted of two singles.
The Orioles' 3-0 loss on a beautiful Sunday afternoon at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum completed a three-game A's sweep and proved a fitting end to an atrocious West Coast trip.
"When you're not winning, everything looks bad," Orioles third baseman Melvin Mora said. "We're having a tough time, but if you look at it, it's not time to go crazy."
Facing the Seattle Mariners and the A's, two teams with losing records, the Orioles (24-33) went 1-5, dropping the last five games of the trip, giving them seven losses in eight games. They have lost 21 of their past 26 road games and are 0-9 in road-series finales.
While they were at least competitive against Seattle, they never even gave themselves a chance against the A's, who have won six straight and beaten the Orioles eight consecutive times.
The Orioles trailed after every one of the 27 innings played in the series. That also happened last month in getting swept by the New York Yankees, but these were the A's, a team that had been one of the worst offensive clubs in the game before the Orioles arrived in town.
"The game is pitching," said Orioles manager Dave Trembley, whose team is a season-low nine games under .500 and is tied with the Kansas City Royals for the fewest wins in the American League. "When you play a three-game series and two out of three [games], you're taking your starting pitcher out in the first inning, your pitching is not giving you what you need to have a chance. That's an unfortunate part of the game."
Orioles starter Rich Hill, who had the one win on this road trip, managed to get just two outs in the type of performance that got him traded from the Chicago Cubs for a player to be named. Two days after Jeremy Guthrie lasted just two-thirds of an inning, Hill faced just eight batters before giving the ball to Trembley. He walked four, hit one and allowed a single, putting the Orioles into a 3-0 hole before their second at-bat.
At one point of his 39-pitch outing, Hill allowed four straight base runners without the A's so much as swinging the bat as he missed the strike zone with 13 of 16 pitches.
