Jose Siri hit a home run with two outs in the eighth inning to break the scoreless tie and help Shane Baz earn his first win in over two years. The Tampa Bay Rays defeated the Oakland Athletics 1-0 on Tuesday night.
Baz (1-2) gave up three hits, struck out four, and walked three over a career-high 7 2/3 innings to secure his first win since July 3, 2022, at Toronto. He missed the 2023 season while recovering from Tommy John surgery.
“It’s tough,” Baz said about his return. “You’ve got to take it one day at a time and just try and get better so when you do get back you give yourself the best chance to succeed. Definitely happy with that one.”
Siri’s solo home run to center field was his 15th of the season and came off Oakland starter Joey Estes (5-6), who pitched well but could not match Baz. The A’s drew 4,377 fans and had been shut out in two of their last three games.
Edwin Uceta got the final four outs to finish the game, which lasted 1 hour and 54 minutes, and earned his first career save.
Baz was also excited for catcher Rob Brantly, who made his first major league appearance since playing one game for the Yankees on May 22, 2022.
They had worked together before at Triple-A Durham, which made their time together comfortable.
“That was really cool, that’s special,” manager Kevin Cash said. “Throwing a shutout is really tough and we just threw a shutout combined with Edwin Uceta as well. Brantly certainly plays a big role in that.
So happy for Brant that he was able to have the right fingers and the guys were on board with what he was calling.”
Estes struck out five and allowed one run on three hits while also pitching 7 2/3 innings.
Oakland’s starters have given up only two runs over their last four games. The A’s lost for only the third time in their last nine games.
