Ross Stripling won for the first time since 2022, Abraham Toro and Tyler Nevin hit home runs and the Oakland Athletics completed a three-game sweep of the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates with a 4-0 victory Wednesday afternoon.
T.J. McFarland, Austin Adams, Dany Jimenez, Michael Kelly and Mason Miller extended the Oakland bullpen’s run of consecutive scoreless innings to 27 2/3 with three more, capping off a four-hit effort that produced the A’s season-best fourth straight win.
Stripling (1-5), who entered the game 0-5 after having gone 0-5 for the San Francisco Giants last season, worked the first six innings, allowing two hits and no walks. He struck out two.
The veteran’s most recent win had come in the final game of the 2022 season as a member of the Toronto Blue Jays in a 10-0 victory over the Boston Red Sox.
Toro gave the A’s a lead they would never relinquish with his third home run of the season, a solo shot off Pirates starter Quinn Priester (0-2) in the second inning.
Nevin made it 2-0 with his fourth homer of the year in the third, then scored Oakland’s third run two innings later on a throwing error by Pittsburgh shortstop Oneil Cruz.
Priester, who lost a 3-0 decision in San Francisco last week, went six innings, charged with three runs (two earned) on five hits. He walked four and struck out three.
The Pirates made it interesting against the Oakland bullpen, first loading the bases with two outs in the seventh, down 3-0, before Adams struck out Bryan Reynolds on a full-count pitch.
Then, one inning later, Pittsburgh appeared to load the bases again when, with two on and two out, Jared Triolo was deemed to have been hit by a pitch. But A’s manager Mark Kotsay challenged, and the call was overturned into a foul off the nob of Triolo’s bat.
He eventually went to a full count before flying out.
Miller threw a low-stress ninth for his ninth save.
The A’s tacked on in the eighth when Toro walked before pinch-runner Esteury Ruiz and stole second and raced home on a single by Kyle McCann.
Toro, Nevin and McCann collected two hits apiece to account for all six of Oakland’s hits.
Reynolds’ third-inning, ground-rule double was the only extra-base hit for the Pirates, who dropped their fourth straight.
–Field Level Media