MATT Olson homered in his homecoming and the visiting Atlanta Braves overcame a rare poor effort by Kyle Wright to outlast the Oakland Athletics 10-9 in the opener of a two-game interleague series Tuesday night (Wednesday in Manila).
Playing in Oakland for the first time since getting traded in March, Olson hit a three-run homer in the third and the Braves led almost the whole way. Atlanta also scored three times in the first and fifth innings en route to a sixth consecutive victory.
Oakland fell for a fifth time in its past six games despite hitting three homers – back-to-back shots by Sean Murphy and Seth Brown in a four-run third and a three-run blast by pinch hitter Chad Pinder that drew the hosts to a 9-9 tie in the fifth after they had trailed by as many as five runs.
Jesse Chavez (3-1), Raisel Iglesias, A.J. Minter and Kenley Jansen held the A’s scoreless over the final four innings on just one hit. Jansen worked a 1-2-3 ninth with two strikeouts for his 32nd save.
In other games, it was the Padres 6, Diamondbacks 5; Angels 5, Tigers 4 (10 innings); Rockies 10, Brewers 7 (10 innings); Mariners 3, White Sox 0; Dodgers 6, Giants 3; Orioles 9, Blue Jays 6; Cardinals 4, Nationals 1; Rangers 4, Astros 3; Phillies 3, Marlins 2; Rays 8, Red Sox 4; Pirates 8, Mets 2; Guardians 4, Royals 1; and Cubs 9, Reds 3.
Padres 6, Diamondbacks 5
Jorge Alfaro delivered a walk-off hit as San Diego rallied from a five-run deficit to beat Arizona.
Alfaro hit a two-run single off Ian Kennedy (4-7) with two outs in the ninth as the Padres snapped a three-game losing streak. The Padres got home runs from Jake Cronenworth, Ha-Seong Kim and Josh Bell.
Arizona’s Josh Rojas, Daulton Varsho and Christian Walker hit solo homers. Merrill Kelly gave up four runs on three hits in seven innings.
Angels 5, Tigers 4 (10 innings)
Magneuris Sierra laid down a perfect safety-squeeze bunt to score Andrew Velazquez from third base in the 10th inning, lifting Los Angeles over Detroit in Anaheim, Calif.
The Tigers took a 4-3 lead in the top of the 10th on an RBI single by Javier Baez, who drove in three runs on the night. However, Baez’s throwing error in the bottom of the 10th allowed the Angels’ Taylor Ward to tie the game at 4-4. Velazquez took third on a wild pitch and scored on Sierra’s bunt single.
Mike Trout, Mike Ford and Jo Adell homered for the Angels. Trout has gone deep in three consecutive games and has seven homers in his past 13 games. — Field Level Media
