Aledmys Diaz had three hits on Saturday, including the game-winning single in the 10th inning, as the visiting Oakland Athletics edged the Milwaukee Brewers, 2-1.
Diaz drove in automatic runner Tony Kemp with a single to center off Milwaukee reliever Joel Payamps to give the A’s the lead in the top of the 10th.
Oakland left-hander Sam Long, with automatic runner Victor Caratini on second, pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the 10th for his first save.
By taking the first two games of this three-game series, the Athletics have won a season-high four games in a row. They have also won three of their last four series. It was only the fourth series win of the season for Oakland, the worst team in the major leagues.
The game started as a duel between Oakland’s Paul Blackburn and Milwaukee’s Julio Teheran, two right-handed starting pitchers with plenty of major league experience.
Teheran, a two-time All-Star and 12-year veteran, was making his fourth start for the Brewers. Teheran worked through the seventh, allowing six hits with one walk. He struck out six and threw 98 pitches, both season highs.
Blackburn, a seven-year veteran, scattered just four singles, walked one and struck out five over six innings before A’s manager Mark Kotsay turned the game over to the bullpen with a 1-0 lead. But neither Teheran nor Blackburn would factor in the decision.
The A’s took a 1-0 lead in the top of the fifth when Jace Peterson singled to left and, with one out, advanced to third on a hit-and-run single by Diaz through the hole and into right field. Peterson scored from third when JJ Bleday beat out a potential inning-ending double play.
But William Contreras tied the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the eighth with a two-out, pinch-hit home run to straightaway center field off A’s lefty Richard Lovelady. Contreras’ homer was estimated at 440 feet.
Shintaro Fujinami (3-6) got the win with a scoreless ninth inning. Payamps fell to 2-1 on the season with the loss.
–Field Level Media
