Aaron Civale’s return from rehab never settled in, and the Athletics spent the rest of Wednesday night chasing.
The A’s lost 12-4 to the Pittsburgh Pirates at Sutter Health Park, dropping the series and falling to 36-38. Even with the loss, the Athletics remained second in the AL West, 1.5 games behind Seattle, as the division continued to wobble around them.
Trouble from the jump
Pittsburgh scored before the A’s came to the plate.
Spencer Horwitz opened the game with a double, Brandon Lowe walked and Bryan Reynolds doubled in the first run. Then Ryan O’Hearn followed with a two-run double, giving the Pirates a 3-0 lead.
The Pirates added two more runs in the second. Lowe singled home Jared Triolo, and Reynolds added another RBI single to make it 5-0.
At that point, the A’s were already in catch-up mode.
Civale never finds it
Civale allowed six runs on nine hits over three innings. He walked two, struck out two and faced one batter in the fourth before José Suarez replaced him.
However, the damage kept coming. O’Hearn hit a two-run homer off Suarez in the fourth, pushing Pittsburgh’s lead to 7-0.
The Pirates later broke it wide open in the seventh. Marcell Ozuna homered off Scott Barlow, and O’Hearn added a two-run single as part of a five-run inning.
O’Hearn finished 3-for-5 with a double, a homer and six RBIs. Reynolds went 2-for-5 with two RBIs.
A small spark
The Athletics did not score until the sixth.
Nick Kurtz singled, Shea Langeliers walked and Jacob Wilson brought both home with a two-run single. That cut the deficit to 7-2, but the game never got tight.
Henry Bolte opened the seventh with his second homer of the season. Then Zack Gelof added a solo homer in the ninth.
That swing extended Gelof’s hitting streak to 21 games. It was also his 11th homer of the season.
Numbers that mattered
The Pirates finished with 12 runs, 16 hits and one error. The Athletics had four runs, six hits and no errors.
Pittsburgh went 5-for-16 with runners in scoring position and left 10 on base. The A’s went 1-for-4 with runners in scoring position and left five on.
Luis Medina gave the A’s three innings after the seventh-inning damage. He allowed one run, struck out six and gave the bullpen some needed length.
Still, Wednesday belonged to Pittsburgh. The Pirates led from the first inning on, and the A’s never found enough offense to turn the game back.
Up next
The Athletics open a four-game series against the Los Angeles Angels on Thursday at Sutter Health Park. First pitch is scheduled for 6:40 p.m. PDT.
Gage Jump is scheduled to start for the A’s. The left-hander enters at 2-1 with a 3.09 ERA and 19 strikeouts.
The Angels have not announced a probable starter. The teams are set to see plenty of each other, with the A’s scheduled to play the Angels in seven of their next 10 games.
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Dice City Sports editor Mark Hebert covers the Las Vegas Aces, 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.
