Aaron Civale gave the Athletics six steady innings, and this time the pitching held up behind him.
Civale allowed one run, the bullpen followed with three scoreless innings, and the A’s beat the Guardians 7-1 on Sunday at Sutter Health Park. The win moved the Athletics to 18-16 and helped them avoid a three-game sweep.
Civale keeps it calm
Civale had traffic early, but he never let Cleveland build anything.
The Guardians put two runners on in the first, but Civale escaped with a strikeout. Then, in the second, Travis Bazzana singled and stole second before Civale stranded him at third.
Cleveland’s only run came in the fifth when Chase DeLauter hit a solo homer to tie the game at 1-1. Civale still finished six innings with seven hits, two walks and three strikeouts.
As a result, he improved to 3-1 and lowered his ERA to 2.95.
Power answers back
Colby Thomas opened the scoring in the second with his first home run of the season.
After DeLauter tied it, the A’s responded right away in the bottom of the fifth. Zack Gelof led off with a homer to left, and Tyler Soderstrom followed with a solo shot to right-center.
Later in the inning, Brent Rooker singled home Darell Hernaiz to make it 4-1.
McNeil opens it up
The Athletics put the game away in the sixth.
Gelof walked, Soderstrom singled and Austin Wynns walked to load the bases. After Hernaiz flied out, Jeff McNeil drove a bases-clearing double to right.
That pushed the lead to 7-1 and gave the bullpen a clean runway.
Numbers that mattered
Soderstrom led the offense, going 3-for-4 with a homer and two runs scored. McNeil went 2-for-4 with three RBIs, while Gelof homered, walked and scored twice.
Thomas added his first homer of the season, and Rooker drove in a run. The Athletics finished with 11 hits and went 2-for-7 with runners in scoring position.
Meanwhile, Justin Sterner, Mark Leiter Jr. and Joel Kuhnel combined for three hitless innings out of the bullpen. They walked one and struck out two.
Up next
The Athletics open a six-game road trip Tuesday in Philadelphia before heading to Baltimore.
Luis Severino is scheduled to start the opener against Phillies left-hander Cristopher Sánchez. Severino enters at 2-2 with a 4.46 ERA, while Sánchez is 2-2 with a 2.90 ERA.
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Dice City Sports editor Mark Hebert covers the Vegas Golden Knights, Las Vegas Raiders, Athletics, and UNLV baseball and softball. He has 24 years of journalism experience, is also a senior reporter at Exhibit City News, and previously covered the Dallas Stars and Texas Rangers. Follow him on X or connect on LinkedIn.
