By Emily Ohman
OAKLAND – JJ Bleday hit a two-run home run, Joe Boyle pitched six effective innings and the Oakland A's beat the Tampa Bay Rays 3-0 on Monday night.
Bleday hit his sixteenth home run in the primary inning and Lawrence Butler added a sacrifice fly within the fifth inning, accounting for all the offense.
Boyle (3-5) limited the Rays to only two hits and three walks while recording six strikeouts. Grant Holman, Tyler Ferguson and Mason Miller each followed with hitless innings and combined for five more strikeouts, with Miller earning his nineteenth save.
With the win, Oakland evened its home record for the season at 31-31. The A's moved to a 26-55 record in Oakland after ending last yr at 50-112.
The A's took a lead in the primary inning and never gave it up. Butler opened the inning with a single and after Brent Rooker retired, Bleday hit a fastball into the stands in right field.
Zack Gelof had two of Oakland's six hits, with a single within the second and a double within the fifth. He scored on Butler's sacrifice fly within the fifth.
Tampa Bay had runners on the sphere in all but three innings but did not rating. The Rays were hitless until the fifth inning, when Yandy Diaz hit a single with two outs but was helpless. Diaz has reached base in 31 consecutive road games.
Boyle threw 104 pitches and set a profession high with six strikeouts.
Rays starter Taj Bradley (6-8) allowed three runs and five hits with three walks and two strikeouts in six innings.
TRAINING ROOM
As: RHP Austin Adams was placed on the 15-day injured list Thursday with right forearm tendinitis, but his return is predicted within the near future. … INF Tyler Soderstrom continues to make progress after sitting out July with a left wrist injury, but there isn’t a timetable yet for his return.
Rays: RHP Pete Fairbanks was placed on the 15-day injured list and will probably be out for 2 to 4 weeks after an MRI revealed a strained right latissimus dorsi, the identical sort of injury he suffered in 2022 that benched the closer for nearly half the season. Fairbanks pitched 44 strikeouts in only over 45 innings and posted a 3.57 ERA while earning 23 saves this season.
Next
A's RHP Joey Estes (5-5, 4.72) starts against Rays RHP Shane Baz (0-2, 4.21 ERA).
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