The Orioles desperately needed to find a way to navigate a potent A’s lineup using as few arms as possible Sunday, and their decision to use lefty Keegan Akin as a opener proved sage. It gave them their best lefty-lefty specialist arm against a top of the order led by lefty leadoff guy Nick Kurtz, it forced the A’s to make some early adjustments and it took languishing veteran starter Chris Bassitt, 37, out of the first inning. Among all of the sad statistics marring Bassitt’s campaign since signing from Toronto as a free agen t, his 6.43 ERA in the first inning, for a team that usually cant score itself until the fifth or sixth inning, was beyond problematic. And hit in the clutch the Orioles (18-24) did not, again, and they have not for about 10 days except for successive outings in Miami last week. Akin and Bassitt would have to be excellent to snap a three-game losing streak and they were in a 2-1 victory that felt crucial given the O’s next opponent.…