O's lose heartbreaker, series to A's

Just when it looked like the Orioles would cruise to a victory over the Oakland Athletics, the bullpen just couldn't keep the A's offense from making a comeback. It was a familiar story... another O's starter, this time Brad Bergesen, pitched well enough to earn a victory but instead received a no-decision. The right-hander allowed just four hits and four runs over seven innings including a two-run home run from Gabe Gross in the second that gave the A's an early lead.

But that was all they would muster off Bergesen (although he later inherited two earned runs). The O's offense backed up Bergesen with five runs, but up three in the seventh, with the score 5-2, Bergesen gave up back-to-back singles to Adam Rosales and Mark Ellis to start the eighth and Dave Trembley handed the ball over to Jason Berken who recorded a quick out by getting Rajai Davis to fly out. Mark Hendrickson, who took the loss, then got Daric Barton to pop up. With two outs, with Cla Meredith warming up in the bullpen, the dangerous Ryan Sweeney hit an RBI single to put the A's closer, 5-3.

Kurt Suzuki then singled when Hendrickson deflected a ground ball to short that Lugo couldn't hang onto and Jake Fox scored Ellis on a single to short to make it 5-4. Meredith then entered the game and Kevin Kouzmanoff hit a bases-clearing,three-run double to put the A's ahead 7-5.

And that's all she wrote. Another tough loss for the Orioles as they head to Toronto then New York for a three-game series against each of their division rivals. The Orioles are still sitting in last place in the AL East and are having a hard time climbing out of the deep hole they dug themselves into when they started the season 0-16. When the O's return from their six-game road trip, the schedule doesn't get any easier as they will face the Red Sox, Yankees and Mets for a nine-game homestand.