Oakland Athletics’ Ryan Noda watches his three-run home run against the Atlanta Braves during the fifth inning at the Oakland Coliseum on Mon May 29, 2023 (AP News photo)

By Troy Ewers

OAKLAND–In front of a majority Atlanta Braves crowd at the Oakland Coliseum, it was the Oakland A’s against the Atlanta Braves. The A’s snapped an 11 game losing streak with a five run 7-2 win.

The starters on the hill were making their 2023 season debuts, 2022 A.L. All Star Paul Blackburn for Oakland and Michael Soroka (hasn’t pitched in MLB since 2020) for Atlanta and in the first inning it didn’t take long for the Braves to get on the board.

Matt Olson, who got on base from a walk, was batted in from a Sean Murphy single. Blackburn got out the inning with just the one run and runners at the corners with back to back strikeouts. Soroka’s first inning was a quick three up three down and even received a standing ovation from the overwhelming amount of Atlanta fans in the Oakland Coliseum.

The duel between both pitchers made for a scoreless second, third, and fourth inning. Blackburn had six K’s by this point and Soroka had three K’s, both of these guys would leave the game with that number of strikeouts.

In the fifth inning for the A’s, they made a pitching change and brought in Lucas Erceg and he delivered a quick three out inning. In the bottom of the fifth, the A’s got on Soroka quickly.

Langeliers was hit by a pitch, Peterson got on base by fielder’s choice, Bride would get a single and advance Peterson. Esteury Ruiz’s double that was later called an E7, scored Peterson. Ryan Noda had the moment of the game with a three run bomb that scored Ruiz and Bride, 4-1 A’s.

The next two innings was a pitching duel, where both teams would go down quickly, but by the eighth inning we were right back to the scoring. Matt Olson hit a solo home run, but that would be the end for the Braves.

Oakland would score another three runs in a rally from Laureano, Langeliers, and Peterson, making the final score 7-2. Lucas Erceg would get the winning decision for the A’s and Michael Soroka would get the loss. Next game tomorrow will have JP Spears (0-3, 4.70) for the Oakland A’s and Bryce Elder (3-0, 2.01) for the Braves first pitch at the Coliseum 6:40pm PT.