Matt Chapman homered for the second consecutive day, Bo Bichette broke an eighth-inning tie with a solo shot and the Toronto Blue Jays avoided a sweep at the hands of the host Oakland Athletics with a 2-1 victory Wednesday afternoon.
Right-hander Jose Berrios limited the A’s to one run in six innings and combined with two relievers on a four-hitter, allowing the Blue Jays to prevail in a low-scoring affair in which all three runs came on homers. Toronto halted a five-game losing streak.
Ramon Laureano produced Oakland’s scoring with his sixth homer of the season leading off the sixth and gave the A’s, seeking their first home-series sweep of the season, a 1-0 lead.
But Chapman, who hit 111 homers in his five-year A’s career, won an eight-pitch duel with Oakland starter James Kaprielian to start the seventh, tying the game with his bomb to left field. The homer was his 13th of the season.
Kaprielian was pulled at that point, charged with just the one run on five hits. He walked four and struck out one.
Bichette’s homer came on the fourth pitch thrown by Oakland’s third pitcher, Domingo Acevedo (1-2), leading off the eighth. It also was his 13th of the year.
Adam Cimber (8-2), who took over for Berrios and retired all six batters he faced, got the win. The victory was the 20th of his career for Cimber, a product of the University of San Francisco.
Closer Jordan Romano set down the A’s 1-2-3 in the ninth, striking out a pair, for his 18th save.
Berrios allowed four hits and one walk in his six innings. He struck out six.
Chapman added a ninth-inning single, making him 5-for-7 in the final two games of his homecoming series after going 0-for-3 in Monday’s opener. He was making his first return to Oakland since being traded to the Blue Jays in March.
Alejandro Kirk also had two hits for Toronto.
Elvis Andrus had a double for the A’s.
–Field Level Media
