The Pittsburgh Pirates ended their West Coast trip to the Bay Area the same way they started it: By getting shut out.
The Oakland Athletics got an early lead on solo home runs from Abraham Toro and Tyler Nevin in a 4-0 win Wednesday afternoon to sweep the three-game series at Oakland Coliseum.
The Pirates (14-18), who went 0 for 6 with runners in scoring position and left 10 on base, managed only 11 hits in the three-game series and were outscored 23-8 on the road trip. After losing four consecutive and five of six games, the Pirates are in last place in the NL Central as they return for a nine-game homestand starting Friday against the Colorado Rockies at PNC Park.
When Quinn Priester (0-2) left a 2-1 sinker over the middle of the plate, Toro hit a 406-foot line drive off the top of the center-field wall for his third home run to give the A’s a 1-0 lead.
The A’s added another solo shot with two outs in the third, when Nevin sent Priester’s 1-2 slider 384 feet to left field for his fourth homer and a 2-0 lead.
The Pirates continued their inability to manufacture runs, as A’s starter Ross Stripling (1-5) allowed three hits without a walk while striking out a pair in six scoreless innings to earn his first win in 28 appearances.
The Pirates had runners on first and third with two outs in the second, but Jack Suwinski lined out to first. Bryan Reynolds hit a ground-rule double with two outs in the third, only for Connor Joe to fly out to center.
And they came up short in the fourth, despite two throwing errors by the A’s that twice left runners in scoring position.
Oneil Cruz singled to left, advanced to second on a groundout and to third on Stripling’s errant pickoff attempt. Despite the infield playing in, Cruz broke for home on a grounder to short by Rowdy Tellez and was easily thrown out at home. Jared Triolo then reached on a throwing error by Nevin at third base, putting runners at second and third, but Suwinski flied out to left to end the rally.
The A’s didn’t fail to take advantage of the Pirates’ follies in the bottom of the fifth. Nevin reached when Priester and catcher Henry Davis collided while attempting to field a dribbler, with Davis knocking Priester off balance on his throw to first. Priester walked JJ Bleday on four pitches, then walked Shea Langeliers to load the bases. Priester got Toro to hit a grounder to short, but Cruz’s throw pulled Tellez off the bag and allowed Nevin to score as the A’s stretched their lead to 3-0.
That extended the inning by 19 pitches and shortened the start to six innings for Priester, who gave up five hits and four walks with three strikeouts on 97 pitches.
The Pirates’ best scoring chance came in the seventh, when Triolo singled and Davis and Hayes drew walks to load the bases with two outs. After working a 3-0 count against Austin Adams, Reynolds went down swinging at a full-count slider low and inside.
After Joe and Andrew McCutchen drew walks in the eighth, Triolo almost loaded the bases when home plate umpire Tony Randazzo ruled that he was hit by Michael Kelly’s pitch. The A’s challenged the call, which was overturned after reviews showed it hit the knob of the bat. Triolo flied out to left, extending the Pirates’ streak of going hitless with runners in scoring position to 15 at-bats.
The A’s added another run in the eighth against David Bednar. Toro drew a leadoff walk, then was replaced by pinch runner Esteury Ruiz, who stole second base and scored on Kyle McCann’s single to right for a 4-0 lead.
Kevin Gorman is a TribLive reporter covering the Pirates. A Baldwin native and Penn State graduate, he joined the Trib in 1999 and has covered high school sports, Pitt football and basketball and was a sports columnist for 10 years. He can be reached at kgorman@triblive.com.