JJ Bleday hit two home runs and the Oakland Athletics tied a season high with their third straight win in beating the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates 5-2 on Tuesday night.
Mitch Spence (3-1) threw three shutout innings to pick up his third relief win of the year. Lucas Erceg and Mason Miller followed by each striking out the side, with Miller earning his eighth save.
Tyler Nevin and Abraham Toro each had two hits and drove in a run for the A’s, who won for the fifth time in six games.
Facing the same pitcher who surrendered his first major league hit while he was with the Miami Marlins in 2022, Bleday broke a 2-2 tie in the fifth-inning with a solo shot off Pirates starter Mitch Keller (2-3).
Bleday struck again in the seventh, this time with a two-run shot off Josh Fleming that increased the lead to 5-2.
The multi-homer game was the first of Bleday’s three-year career. The center fielder entered the contest with just one long ball this season, on April 2 against the Boston Red Sox.
His three RBIs increased his season total to nine.
Spence came on in relief of Alex Wood after the left-hander struggled through four innings but managed to leave a 2-2 tie. He threw 93 pitches, allowed four hits and four walks and struck out four.
Spence allowed an infield single on his third pitch to Connor Joe, then set down nine in a row.
Joe had his third home run of the season for the Pirates, who dropped their third straight. The solo shot came with two outs in the first inning.
After RBI singles by Toro and Nevin gave the A’s a 2-1 lead in the second, Pittsburgh tied the score for a final time on a sacrifice fly by Ke’Bryan Hayes in the fourth.
Keller went five innings and surrendered three runs on five hits. He walked two, hit a batter and struck out seven.
Joe had two of the Pirates’ five hits.
–Field Level Media
