Ross Stripling pitched six impressive scoreless innings to secure his first victory in almost two years, while the Oakland Athletics hit two home runs to defeat the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-0 on Wednesday, wrapping up their first series sweep of the season.
Abraham Toro and Tyler Nevin both hit home runs, contributing to the A’s fourth consecutive win in front of a small crowd of 4,679 at the Coliseum. Kyle McCann also added two hits and an RBI to the victory.
Stripling, who joined the team from San Francisco in the offseason, had faced 10 consecutive losses with both the A’s and Giants before effectively shutting down the Pirates’ offense in this game.
The experienced right-hander allowed only three hits struck out two batters, and retired the last seven he faced to secure his first win since October 1, 2022.
“Last year … I felt like I had no room for error,” Stripling reflected. “I felt like if I missed with anything, especially fastballs over the plate, it was damage every time. I feel like I’ve thrown the ball well this year. Some outings I haven’t been able to finish as strong as I would have liked, but today was a good one.”
Five relievers from Oakland combined for three more scoreless innings to complete the team’s fourth shutout of the season.
Toro gave the A’s an early lead by hitting a 3-1 sinker from Quinn Priester (0-2) to center field, which bounced off the top of the fence and went over. Nevin continued his nine-game hitting streak by hitting his fourth home run of the season in the third inning, extending the lead to 2-0.
“It all starts with our pitching,” Toro said. “I feel like if we can score two or three runs, our pitchers just keep us in the game. They’ve been the main reason why we’ve been winning lately.”
Oakland added another run in the fifth inning after Nevin reached base on an infield single and scored on shortstop Onell Cruz’s throwing error that pulled Rowdy Tellez off the first base bag.
The Pirates had an opportunity to score in the fourth inning when the A’s made a pair of errors after Cruz’s leadoff single. With a runner on third base, Oakland shortstop Darrell Hernaiz fielded Tellez’s grounder and threw home to tag out Cruz sliding across the plate.
Pittsburgh missed another chance when A’s reliever Austin Adams struck out Bryan Reynolds with the bases loaded in the seventh inning.
“When we had to make plays we made plays,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay said. “We’re getting the pitching from both the starters and the bullpen. The offense is scoring enough runs but the pitching and defense is really the story now.”
