A’s win consecutive series, Noda homers, Harris gets1st win, 9-5 over Pirates

By WILL GRAVES
AP Sports Writer

PITTSBURGH (AP) — The Oakland Athletics won back-to-back games for just the third time season as Ryan Noda homered and reached base four times in a 9-5 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday.

Oakland’s first seven batters reached against Roansy Contreras (3-5). All seven scored to give Oakland its second road victory in less than 24 hours following a 15-game slide away from home.

Seth Brown had three of the A’s season-high tying 17 hits. Jace Peterson followed up a five-hit night with two more hits, including a two-run double that helped break things open in the first.

Hogan Harris (1-0) worked five innings to pick up his first major league victory after making a handful of appearances in relief. The 26-year-old allowed three runs on four hits with three walks and two strikeouts as an Oakland starter won for just the fourth time this season. Trevor May got two outs for his first save this season.

Rodolfo Castro homered and drove in three runs for Pittsburgh, which followed up a three-game sweep of NL Central rival St. Louis by becoming just the third team this season to lose a series to the major league-worst A’s, who at 14-50 are on pace to finish 35-127.

Ke’Bryan Hayes had three hits and is hitting .482 (14 of 29) over his last seven games but grounded out with the bases loaded in the ninth while representing the tying run. Andrew McCutchen singled in the seventh for his 1,998th hit.

Noda walked twice in the first inning, singled in the third, and hit a solo home run in the seventh to give Oakland a little extra cushion.

The A’s wasted little time getting to Contreras, a 23-year-old the Pirates have long viewed as an important part of rebuilding.

It may be time to tweak the plan. An uneven opening two months sent the right-hander briefly to the bullpen and he scuffled through four innings when he returned to the rotation last Friday against the Cardinals.

Oakland’s first seven batters reached on a hit or a walk. A strikeout of Shea Langliers was met with sarcastic applause and Contreras was pulled after Kevin Smith’s infield single loaded the bases.

ob Zastryzny came on and threw eight straight balls that walked in a pair of runs. By the time the smoke cleared, Oakland was up by seven, all charged to Contreras, whose ERA ballooned from 4.82 to 5.91 in the span of 38 pitches.

UP NEXT

Athletics: Make the final stop on a nine-game, three-city trip in Milwaukee. Luis Medina (0-5, 8.19 ERA) faces Adrian Houser (2-1, 3.45) on Friday.

Pirates: Finish up a season-long nine-game homestand with a weekend series against the New York Mets. Rich Hill (5-5, 4.41 ERA) will look for his second straight victory in the opener opposite New York’s Tylor Megill (5-3, 4.40).

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