Cole Irvin blanks his former team in Orioles’ 7-0 win over Athletics

The lefty delivered seven shutout innings and the O’s got home runs from Rutschman, Mountcastle and Henderson to down the A’s.

Cole Irvin delivered his best start in an Orioles uniform and the offense used three big innings to score a 7-0 win over Oakland on Saturday.

With manager Brandon Hyde announcing that Kyle Bradish will return to the rotation next week, the Orioles lefty came into this start potentially pitching to keep his spot amongst the starters. After his best start of the season last time out vs. Kansas City, Irvin responded to that pressure with an even better start against his former team. Irvin started off the afternoon by getting a Esteury Ruiz groundout, Tyler Nevin to fly out to right and punctuated the inning with a K of former All-Star Brent Rooker.

The 30-year-old southpaw continued his strong start in the 2nd, getting two quick outs on a pop up and ground out and then freezing JJ Bleday for his second K on a sinker that clipped the outside corner. In the 3rd, the former A got a ground out from Max Schuemann, a strikeout from Nick Allen and Darell Hernaiz ground out to complete a perfect first trip through the A’s order. The lefty’s command was excellent, consistently working his sinker and curveball to both sides of the plate to frustrate Oakland hitters.

Irvin ran into his first bit of trouble in the 4th, but masterfully worked around it. With one out, former Oriole Tyler Nevin got the A’s first hit of the day, sending a 1-2 cutter back up the middle into center. The O’s starter then punched out Rooker looking on a curveball and ended the inning when Shea Langeliers lined out to first base on the first pitch he saw.

The 4th started a streak of innings where Irvin allowed an Oakland base runner, but then effortlessly worked around that traffic. Abraham Toro led off the 5th with a single but Irvin rolled a double play ball to the next batter to end the threat before it started. In the 6th, Ruiz got on with a two-out single to right field, but Irvin calmly closed out the inning by getting Nevin to ground out to short.

In the 7th, the A’s led things off with a single from Rooker but Irvin once again erased that runner when Langeliers grounded into a 5-4-3 double play. Oakland got another base runner when Irvin hit Toro with a curveball that ran too far inside, but the O’s lefty then closed out his start by getting Bleday to pop out to shortstop. The seven shutout innings were not only Irvin’s best start this season, but the first time he’s completed seven innings with the O’s. Irvin finished with a final line of 7 IP, 4 Hs, 0 Rs and 5 Ks.

Offensively, the Orioles continued their historical success against Oakland starter JP Sears—but it took a while for their bats to get going. Like Irving, Sears set down the first nine batters he faced while racking up a pair of strikeouts. The O’s offense finally got on the board in the 4th thanks to some timely hitting.

Gunnar Henderson led off the inning with Baltimore’s first hit of the day, slapping a single the other way into left. Gunnar then stole second, but Sears responded by punching out Adley Rutschman and Ryan Mountcastle to get within one out of escaping the inning. Anthony Santander then came up clutch, ripping a double just inside the left field line to bring home Henderson and give the O’s a 1-0 lead. RBI singles from Jordan Westburg and James McCann drove home another two runs and O’s finished the inning with a 3-0 lead.

The O’s got to Sears again in the 5th thanks to back-to-back HRs from Rutschman and Mountcastle. After strikeouts by Jorge Mateo and Henderson, Adley stepped to the plate looking for his first hit of the afternoon. He got that an more when he pounded a 1-1 sinker over the Great Wall of Baltimore for his third homer of the season. Mountcastle then wasted no time following Adley’s lead, jumping on a hanging, first-pitch sweeper for a solo shot that barely made it over the left field wall.

Even down 5-0, Oakland continued to trot out Sears. Perhaps it was a sign of their accepting defeat or a sign of confidence in a pitcher that ended up with eight Ks in 6.1 innings. However, whatever confidence manager Mark Kotsay had in Spears finally ran out in the 7th. Jorge Mateo worked a one out walk and stole second to gibe the O’s runner in scoring position. Gunnar then promptly declared that “everyone’s in scoring positon when I’m at bat”, crushing a hanging sweeper onto the flag court for a two-run homer.

Mike Baumann relieved Irvin in the 8th and handed the A’s their best chance at scoring. The big right-hander hit the first batter he faced in Scheumann, and then allowed a one out single to give Oakland their first runner in scoring positon. Big Miike made sure there were no bullpen melt downs on Saturday though, getting a strikeout and a pop out to end the inning. Dillon Tate then came in an worked an easy 1-2-3 ninth inning to complete the shutout.

**The seven scoreless innings was the longest scoreless start of Irvin’s career since he threw seven shutout innings for Oakland in August of 2022. The home run from Henderson was his eighth this month—extending a career high for most home runs in a month. The win also extends the Orioles streak to 100 consecutive series without being swept. Baltimore will go for the series win on Sunday when they send Albert Suárez to the mound.