masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgOAKLAND – The first two batters for the Orioles tonight reached base on a single and a double. Athletics left-hander Ross Detwiler uncorked two wild pitches.
Lots of activity, but no scoring.
Adam Jones led off with a single after nailing A’s catcher Bruce Maxwell with his backswing earlier in the at-bat, and he moved to second on the first wild pitch. J.J. Hardy, elevated to second in the lineup, followed with a double to the fence in right-center field, and Jones appeared to beat the relay…

OAKLAND – The first two batters for the Orioles tonight reached base on a single and a double. Athletics left-hander Ross Detwiler uncorked two wild pitches.

Lots of activity, but no scoring.

Adam Jones led off with a single after nailing A’s catcher Bruce Maxwell with his backswing earlier in the at-bat, and he moved to second on the first wild pitch. J.J. Hardy, elevated to second in the lineup, followed with a double to the fence in right-center field, and Jones appeared to beat the relay home on a close play.

The A’s challenged the call and Jones was out, his lead foot never touching the plate as Maxwell tagged his back leg.

You know that an offense is struggling when it fails to score on a double with a runner at second base.

Adam Jones runs gray.pngI have no gripe with third base coach Bobby Dickerson sending Jones, who must have held up to make certain that right fielder Danny Valencia didn’t run down the ball. He’s safe if his front foot is lowered.

This team can’t assume that it’s going to score if Jones holds at third base.

Manny Machado grounded out, Hardy advanced to third on Detwiler’s second wild pitch and Mark Trumbo grounded out.

Detwiler seemed to be out there for a while, but he threw only 15 pitches and the Orioles accomplished nothing except to make him work a little.

Chris Davis, lowered to sixth in the order, singled with one out in the second inning for his 10th hit in 77 at-bats since the break. But Matt Wieters and Nolan Reimold grounded out to end another threat.

Trumbo is now 15-for-92 (.163) since the All-Star break, a slump that would gain more notice if not for Davis’ futility and seven-year contract.

“He’s getting himself out a lot,” said manager Buck Showalter. “Mark internalizes a lot of things. He’s a very driven guy, very serious, and if I know him, he’ll make the adjustment.

“It was hard to continue at the pace he was going at, but we know it’s there and I have a lot of confidence that he’ll get back to it. But he’s not the only one.”

Update: Back-to-back two-out doubles by Marcus Semien and Yonder Alonso in the third inning gave Oakland a 1-0 lead.