Blunders costly as A's sweep Bucs
OAKLAND, Calif. — Given a second chance, Kurt Suzuki gave the Oakland Athletics the lead.
Suzuki homered with two outs in the eighth inning after a dropped foul popup and the Athletics beat Pittsburgh 3-2 Sunday, the Pirates' 17th straight road loss.
With the score 2-all, Pirates reliever Evan Meek (3-2) struck out the first two batters in the eighth. Suzuki followed with a pop that catcher Jason Jaramillo dropped for an error.
"I thought, 'Not again, not another foul popup,"' Suzuki said. "I saw him drop it out and it gave me renewed life. I thought, 'OK, this is the break I needed. Let's do something about it."'
Two pitches later, Suzuki hit his 10th home run. The A's won with only three hits.
"I missed it," Jaramillo said. "That's it. I should have had it."
Pirates manager John Russell was a little more explicit.
"We stunk in every aspect," he said. "Two stupid mistakes spoiled a very nice start by our pitcher. You can't play like that and expect to win."
The game ended strangely. Pedro Alvarez walked with two outs and nobody on, but was hit by Jose Tabata's single near first base for the final out.
The road losing streak is the second-longest in Pirates' history, trailing only a 19-game slide in 1985.
"That's not our best game but we still won," A's manager Bob Geren said. "Sometimes you play well and come up short. Mistakes by the other team certainly helped us out a lot."
The A's won their third straight after losing seven of their previous eight. Pittsburgh lost its sixth in a row. Oakland is 9-0 all-time against the Pirates.
Craig Breslow (3-1) pitched the eighth to pick up the win. Andrew Bailey pitched the ninth for his 14th save.
Lastings Milledge hit a home run and Jose Tabata also drove in a run for the Pirates, who finished 2-13 in interleague play.
Both starters pitched well. Gio Gonzalez took a three-hit shutout into the seventh and Ross Ohlendorf pitched two-hit ball for six innings and did not allow an earned run.
"I didn't do a good job defensively," Ohlendorf said. "I threw the ball away for their first run and I didn't cover first the inning they scored their second run."
Ohlendorf is winless in his past 16 starts dating to last Aug. 18 against the Milwaukee Brewers.
Milledge led off the seventh with a home that pulled the Pirates within 2-1, a hit that finished Gonzalez.
Reliever Brad Ziegler was summoned to face Adam LaRoche, who singled up the middle and advanced a base on the next two groundouts. Tabata's double tied the game.
Ohlendorf walked Cliff Pennington to open the third and then threw the ball away at first trying to pick him off. First baseman Garrett Jones threw the ball down the left field line on the same play.
