OAKLAND – Joe Boyle and two reserves defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Athletics played a generally efficient offensive game with a 5-1 victory on the Coliseum on Monday night, opening a 10-game homestand.
The paid attendance was 3,528, the fourth time in 14 home games that the A's drew fewer than 4,000 fans.
Tyler Nevin hit a solo home run for the A's in the primary inning, his third of the season.
The A's improved to 13-17. They didn't win their thirteenth game in 2023 until June sixth, after they were 13:50. Pittsburgh fell to 14-16.
Boyle (2-4) was effectively wild in five innings with 4 walks and 4 strikeouts, throwing 91 pitches, lower than half of which (45) were strikes. Boyle had two wild pitches in the primary inning with just 10 hits in 26 pitches and threw a ball into the backstop with no runner on board.
Nevertheless, the damage was minimal.
“It was the most important part of the game,” Boyle said. “Set the tone for the rest of the trip. It was important to get out there and settle in, and I think that put them on their heels a little bit.”
A's manager Mike Kotsay would favor Boyle to not continue to exist the fringes as much as he does.
“He got through it,” Kotsay said. “I give the kid credit for going on and getting through five innings after showing a lot of character the first time. Command is a struggle for him and it will be an ongoing process to get him in the zone as much as possible in his supporting work and in the bullpen and make him a focal point.”
The only run the Pirates scored in the primary got here when Ke'Bryan Hayes scored on a wild pitch. Hayes led off the sport with a ground single to right.
“I looked it up in the sixth or seventh and they still only had one hit and I didn’t actually remember the hit,” Nevin said. “That also keeps us in rhythm at the plate. It’s very complementary baseball.”
Pittsburgh would only rating yet another hit the remaining of the evening, with Dany Jimenez getting zeros within the sixth and seventh innings and Michael Kelly within the eighth and ninth innings. Oneil Cruz singled off Kelly within the ninth, however the A's ended things with a groundball double play.
Pittsburgh starter Bailey Falter (2-2) was out after five innings in favor of Roansy Contreras, giving up five earned runs on six hits with no walks and five strikeouts. The hardest-hit ball got here from Nevin, whose home run to left-center traveled 404 feet at 102.8 mph in the primary.
The Athletics took a 3-1 lead within the fourth inning against Falter, with an inning that might warm the guts of any execution-oriented hitting coach.
Brent Rooker led off with a line single to center and was doubled to 3rd base by Abraham Toro, who found open space in right-center.
Shea Langeliers was next and flew deep enough up the center to attain Rooker, and Max Schuemann hit a liner to left that put Toro home.
Things continued in the underside of the fifth when Darell Hernaiz hit a single and was sacrificed to second base by Nick Allen. That put him in position to attain with a double against Esteury Ruiz's left field fence. After Ruiz stole the third, Nevin hit the A's third sacrifice fly in two innings to provide Falter a 5-1 lead.
A number of what’s happening is pitching and defense, however the offense helped us rating enough runs,” Kotsay said. “To be a successful offensive team, we have to do those things right and extend leads, which is another area we've struggled with.”
Nevin added a bloop single to his home run and sacrifice fly and is within the midst of a seven-game hitting streak. He is batting .310 with an OPS of .802 in 23 games.
“I try to keep the same routine, not do too much and just remember what made me feel good and ride that wave,” Nevin said. “I try to have a good shot every time and stack them.”
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