Andrew McCutchen’s sacrifice fly in the eighth provided the game-winning run as the Pittsburgh Pirates topped the visiting Oakland Athletics 5-4 on Monday for their sixth straight win.
With Sam Moll (0-3) on the mound and the score tied 4-4, Ji Hwan Bae singled and, an out later, went to third on Austin Hedges’ single. Bae then scored on McCutchen’s flyout to right.
Connor Joe had an RBI double for the Pirates, who have won the first four games of a nine-game homestand.
Pittsburgh starter Johan Oviedo allowed three runs (two earned) and four hits in seven innings.
Angel Perdomo (1-0) got the final two outs of the eighth to earn the win, and Colin Holderman pitched the ninth for his first career save.
Seth Brown and Aledmys Diaz hit RBI doubles and Ryan Noda added an RBI single for the A’s, who have lost five straight and tied an Oakland-era franchise record with their 15th straight road loss.
Oakland starter JP Sears held the Pirates hitless through the first four innings. He ended up allowing one run and two hits with five walks in 4 2/3 innings.
In the first, Esteury Ruiz reached on Hedges’ catcher’s interference, stole second and scored on Noda’s single for an early 1-0 Oakland lead.
Noda walked to lead off the third before Brent Rooker was hit by a pitch. Brown’s double drove in Noda to make it 2-0, and Carlos Perez’s sacrifice fly upped it to 3-0.
In the fifth, Mark Mathias led off with a single, the Pirates’ first hit. An out later, Mathias stole second. Sears walked McCutchen, then struck out Bryan Reynolds. On Sears’ 112th pitch, Joe doubled, driving in Mathias to cut the Pirates’ deficit to 3-1.
Ke’Bryan Hayes singled to start the sixth to chase reliever Lucas Erceg, who was replaced by Richard Lovelady. Bae struck out, but Mathias and Hedges walked to load the bases.
Shintaro Fujinami came in and walked McCutchen and Reynolds to force in two runs for a 3-3 tie. Hedges scored on a sacrifice fly that turned into a double play by pinch hitter Jack Suwinski for a 4-3 Pirates lead.
A’s manager Mark Kotsay was ejected by plate umpire Jansen Visconti after Noda was called out on strikes in the seventh.
Rooker walked and scored on Diaz’s pinch-hit double in the eighth for a 4-all tie.
–Field Level Media
