BALTIMORE (Interstat) — Chris Bassitt pitched six solid innings in relief and Leody Taveras threw out the potential tying run at the plate in the seventh inning to lift the Baltimore Orioles to a 2-1 victory over the Athletics on Sunday afternoon at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

The Orioles announced shortly before the game that left-hander Keegan Akin would start on the mound instead of Bassitt, and that ploy worked out when Akin struck out two in a 1-2-3 first inning. Bassitt entered in the second and yielded only one run on four hits over six innings, striking out six. He improved to 3-2 on the season.

Athletics starter Luis Severino took the loss, falling to 2-4. He allowed two runs on six hits in 5 1/3 innings, with four strikeouts and three walks.

Rico Garcia pitched a scoreless ninth to earn his third save of the season.

Baltimore snapped a two-game losing streak and improved to 18-23. The Athletics dropped to 21-19 after winning the first two games of the series.

The Athletics struck first in the second inning. Tyler Soderstrom led off with a double to right field and advanced to third when Jacob Wilson reached on a fielding error by Bassitt. Carlos Cortes then drove in Soderstrom with a sacrifice fly to left field. Lawrence Butler grounded into a forceout and Zack Gelof struck out to end the inning with the Athletics leading 1-0.

The Orioles tied the game in the third. Dylan Beavers doubled off the glove of second baseman Jeff McNeil to start the inning. Weston Wilson walked, and Blaze Alexander sacrificed both runners into scoring position. Gunnar Henderson grounded a single to first base, scoring Beavers and moving Wilson to third. Taylor Ward and Adley Rutschman both struck out to keep the score tied at 1-1.

Baltimore took the lead for good in the sixth. Severino retired the first batter but Samuel Basallo ripped a double to right field. Leody Taveras followed with a single to center, putting runners at the corners. Dylan Beavers then lined a single to left field, scoring Basallo and sending Taveras to third. That ended Severino’s outing. Luis Medina entered and walked Weston Wilson to load the bases, but Blaze Alexander and Gunnar Henderson struck out to leave the bases loaded.

The most critical defensive play came in the seventh inning. With one out, Carlos Cortes singled off Bassitt and then stole second. Lawrence Butler struck out for the second out. Zack Gelof then singled to center field. Cortes attempted to score from second but Taveras fired a strong throw to catcher Samuel Basallo, who applied the tag to end the inning and preserve the Orioles’ 2-1 lead.

Baltimore’s bullpen retired the Athletics in order in the eighth, with Anthony Nunez striking out one in a perfect frame. In the ninth, Garcia set down the side in order, striking out Jonah Heim and inducing a lineout and a popout.

Key performances included Bassitt’s six innings of one-run ball, Severino’s 5 1/3 innings of two-run work, and Medina’s two shutout innings with four strikeouts. Akin and Nunez each threw a scoreless inning, and Justin Sterner struck out two in two-thirds of an inning for the Athletics.

Offensively, Beavers went 2 for 4 with the go-ahead RBI. Henderson also had two hits and drove in the first Baltimore run. Cortes drove in the Athletics’ lone run with the sacrifice fly.

The Athletics had won the first two games of the series, 6-2 on Saturday and 4-3 on Friday. They now head home for a 10-game homestand beginning Tuesday against the St. Louis Cardinals. The Orioles begin a three-game series Monday against the New York Yankees.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of Athletics 5, Baltimore Orioles 3. Interstat’s ELO system had projected Baltimore with a 51.20 percent probability to win. The Athletics had been installed as a pregame favorite with a spread of minus 1.5. The total score of 3 went over the over/under line of 9.5. Attendance was 24,213. The game lasted 2 hours 40 minutes.