A's 2, Pirates 1
PITTSBURGH -- Brandon Moss was talking about his days with the Pittsburgh Pirates in the hours leading up to Wednesday night's game, and he said his biggest regret was not hitting more home runs to the short porch in right field.
Moss found that short porch Tuesday night, and his two-run home run in the fourth inning lifted Dan Straily and the Oakland Athletics to a 2-1 victory over the Pirates at PNC Park.
The American League West-leading Athletics have won 10 of their last 13 games, and their 13-4 interleague record is the best in the major leagues. Oakland also improved to 11-0 all-time against the Pirates.
The Pirates lost their fourth straight game.
The home run was Moss' 16th of the season. Moss connected a career-high 21 times last season in helping the Athletics win the AL West. He hit just 13 for the Pirates in 195 games over three seasons from 2008-10.
The home run was enough offensive support for Straily (5-3), who was again dominant against a National League team, allowing only one run and two hits in 6 1/3 innings while striking out seven and walking three. In his last three interleague starts, Straily has given up two runs and seven hits in 19 1/3 innings for a 0.93 ERA.
Gerrit Cole (4-2) lost his second straight start after becoming the first Pirates pitcher to win his first four career starts since Nick Maddox in 1907. Cole went seven innings, giving up two runs and five hits with two walks and four strikeouts.
Down 2-1, the Pirates put a runner on second base with one out in the seventh inning. However, left-hander Sean Doolittle relieved Straily and struck out Gaby Sanchez before getting Jordy Mercer to hit an inning-ending foul out.
Ryan Cook pitched a scoreless eighth, and Grant Balfour worked around a leadoff single in the ninth to improve to 24-for-24 in save opportunities this season. Balfour also extended his club-record streak of consecutive saves to 42.
Moss' fourth-inning homer followed John Jaso's two-out double.
Pittsburgh's Pedro Alvarez opened the scoring by belting a home run off the batter's eye in center field to lead off the second inning. The homer was Alvarez's 23rd and was estimated at 448 feet.
NOTES: Pittsburgh placed 2B Neil Walker on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to Sunday, with a strained right oblique muscle and recalled INF/OF Josh Harrison from Triple-A Indianapolis. ... Oakland LHP Brett Anderson, who has been on the DL since May 1 with a sprained right ankle, played catch from 105 feet Tuesday, but the Athletics don't have a timetable for when he can start throwing off a mound. ... The start was delayed 1 hour, 42 minutes because of the threat of a thunderstorm. The rain never came, and the game finally began at 8:47 p.m. ET. ... The three-game series concludes Wednesday night with Athletics LHP Tommy Milone (8-7, 4.11 ERA) opposing Pirates LHP Francisco Liriano (8-3, 2.20 ERA).
