Athletics attempt to sweep away Orioles (May 06, 2018)
OAKLAND, Calif. -- The Oakland Athletics will break out the white cleats, some brand new right out of the box, when they attempt to sweep a three-game series from the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday afternoon.
The A's have had to work hard to take the first two games of the series, scoring two late runs to prevail 6-4 on Friday night before getting two in the 12th on a Khris Davis home run to triumph 2-0 on Saturday.
Jed Lowrie had a tie-breaking hit in Friday's win before going just 1-for-4 on Saturday after hearing from the American League office about the color of his shoes.
The hot-hitting second baseman was deemed to have been out of uniform while wearing green cleats Friday night while the A's were donning their white uniforms.
He found himself scrambling over the weekend to resolve the issue.
"Major League Baseball decided to start enforcing the rule they hadn't really enforced the last few years," Lowrie said Friday night. "I'm the only one I know of, but I believe others have been warned as well. As soon as I was told, I ordered a new pair of spikes."
Whatever the color, neither team had their hitting shoes on Saturday night, when the A's and Orioles combined for just 11 hits in 12 innings.
Baltimore batters struck out a total of 20 times, while Oakland had 19 hitters retired in succession at one point of the game.
Oakland starter Andrew Triggs (2-1, 5.20) will attempt to extend his club's winning streak to three games.
He's faced the Orioles twice in his career, once as a starter, and struck out seven in five innings. He went 0-1 in those games with a 5.40 ERA.
Triggs is coming off his lone loss of the season in a 6-3 defeat at Seattle on Tuesday.
Baltimore will counter with Alex Cobb (0-3, 9.68), who pitched his best game of the season Tuesday in a 3-2 loss to the Los Angeles Angels. He did not get a decision after having lost his first three outings.
Cobb has pitched effectively against the A's in his career, going 4-2 with a 2.33 ERA in eight starts.
He's 1-1 with a 2.18 ERA in three starts in Oakland.
Cobb has had his hands full with Lowrie over the years. The veteran is 8-for-16 (.500) with four doubles in their head-to-heads.
Lowrie, whose lone hit Saturday night left him at .353, has hit safely in the last six games, collecting a total of 10 hits over that stretch.
He didn't have a hit Saturday until lining a one-out single off Orioles reliever Pedro Araujo in the bottom of the 12th. Five pitches later, the A's had a 2-0 win on Davis' walk-off homer.
The dramatic victory clinched a series win for the A's, their third straight. They have won seven of their last eight home games.
The Orioles, meanwhile, will be seeking to end an 11-game road losing streak, which includes having gone 0-5 to begin a six-game trip that ends Sunday.
