JP Sears pitched seven scoreless innings, and the Oakland Athletics hit four home runs in a 5-2 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Tuesday night.
The A’s have won eight of their last 11 games since the All-Star break and can secure their fifth consecutive series win with a victory on Wednesday, which would be their first such streak since 2021.
Brent Rooker and Lawrence Butler continued their strong performances, hitting their 11th and 10th home runs in July, respectively. They currently lead the majors in both home runs and RBIs for the month. Daz Cameron and JJ Bleday also hit home runs.
The A’s have hit 45 home runs this month, the most in the majors and the second most in Oakland history for July.
“I think you’re just seeing the start of it, and that’s nice,” manager Mark Kotsay said. “I don’t want to say they’re validating themselves.
We still have a long season to play and a long way to continue to play good baseball, and continue to swing the bats the way we’re swinging them. But as I said pregame, this group is starting to believe in themselves. And that’s powerful when that happens.”
Sears (8-8), the only A’s pitcher who hasn’t missed a start this season, bounced back from allowing seven earned runs against the Astros in his previous game. He struck out a season-high nine batters and held the Giants to three hits, winning his fourth game in a month for the first time in his career.
Kotsay called it Sears’ best performance of the season. The 28-year-old felt he had good control of his fastball on both sides of the plate.
“Coming off not a great ending in my last start, I want to get a good start going into the second half of the season,” Sears said. “I felt really confident.”
Cameron gave the A’s a 1-0 lead in the second inning with a solo home run, and Butler added to the lead in the third inning. Rooker hit a two-run homer to deep left field in the fifth inning.
The A’s had seven hits against Giants starter Robbie Ray (1-1), who lost in his home debut with the Giants. Ray, the 2021 NL Cy Young Award winner, returned from the injured list last week and won his first start against the Dodgers.
