OAKLAND — With all of 43 career starts under his belt, Kendall Graveman finds himself the senior member of the A’s current rotation.
He showed the form of a staff leader Monday, holding the Orioles to one run over seven innings as the A’s rang up a 3-2 victory in the opener of a four-game series at the Coliseum. Graveman registered 14 of his 21 outs via ground ball, always a good sign for the sinkerballer, and added four strikeouts with no walks.
Oakland will welcome efforts like that right now. With Rich Hill being traded and Sonny Gray and Jesse Hahn recently joining the disabled list, it leaves the 25-year-old Graveman and rookie Sean Manaea as the only regular starters anchoring the rotation right now.
The A’s got a homer from Stephen Vogt and several nice defensive plays turned in behind Graveman (8-7) to win for just the second time in the past 10 games. It was a nice rebound effort after the right-hander gave up six runs in just four innings against the Angels his last time out.
On Monday, he managed to tame the American League East-leading Orioles, who came in leading the majors with 168 home runs. Manny Machado, who a day earlier became just the second player in major league history to hit three home runs in the first three innings of a game, went 0-for-3 against Graveman. But Machado did go deep again, launching a 446-foot homer to left-center off Ryan Dull in the eighth to cut Oakland’s lead to 3-2.
The defense behind Graveman included a leaping catch by Coco Crisp, who slammed into the center field wall after making the play to rob Mark Trumbo in the second.
Starting pitching report: Graveman was dialed in all night, surrendering just six hits over his seven innings. As good as the A’s defense was, the only run off Graveman came with help from a blunder in the field. Crisp and right fielder Danny Valencia let Hyun-Soo Him’s fly ball drop between them to load the bases in the third. Machado delivered a sacrifice fly right after that to give Baltimore a 1-0 lead.
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Bullpen report: Ryan Madson turned in a 1-2-3 ninth to record his 23rd save.
At the plate: Vogt came in just 5-for-42 over his previous 11 games. But he homered off Kevin Gausman (3-9) in the fourth and added an RBI single in the seventh to make it 3-1. That insurance run proved to be crucial after Machado’s homer in the eighth. Billy Butler singled home Vogt with two outs in the sixth to snap a 1-1 tie.
In the field: Graveman benefited greatly from his defense, particularly first baseman Yonder Alonso. Alonso retired his brother-in-law, Machado, on a running over-the-head catch of a foul pop in the third, though that play went for a sacrifice fly as J.J. Hardy alertly tagged up at third and scored the game’s first run. Alonso also made a diving backhand stop of Pedro Alvarez’s chopper in the fourth and added a bare-hand grab of Hyun Soo Kim’s bouncer and flip to first for the out. Third baseman Ryon Healy managed to dodge a shattered bat to make a barehand grab and throw to get Jonathan Schoop in the fifth.
Attendance: It was a sparse gathering of 10,407.
Up next: Having pitched well out of the bullpen of late, Zach Neal (1-1, 5.25) steps in for a start in Tuesday’s 7:05 p.m. game. He’ll be opposed by lefty Wade Miley (0-1, 7.20), who the Orioles acquired from Seattle in a July 31 trade.
