Milwaukee Brewers catcher Victor Caratini tags out Oakland Athletics’ Jonah Bride during the second inning at American Family Park in Milwaukee on Sat Jun 10, 2023 (AP News photo)

By Jerry Feitelberg

The Oakland A’s won their fourth game in a row as they defeated the Milwaukee Brewers 2-1 in ten innings. The A’s starter Paul Blackburn was on the top of his game. Blackburn was in All-Star form as he went six innings and allowed four hits and no runs.

Blackburn threw 95 pitches, and 64 were for strikes. The A’s bullpen performed well except for just one pitch that Milwaukee’s DH William Contreras sent out of the ballpark in the eighth inning. The game summary follows below. 

The A’s put a run on the board in the top of the fifth. A’s second baseman Jace Peterson singled to start the rally. The Brewers’ starter Julio Teheran struck out Jonah Bride for the first out. A’s shortstop Aledmys Diaz singled, sending Peterson to third. Teheran retired J J Bleday on a fielder’s choice, and Bride scored. The A’s led 1-0. 

Blackburn held the Brewers scoreless in the sixth. Austin Pruitt pitched a scoreless seventh inning. In the eighth, A’s skipper Mark Kotsay brought in left Richard Lovelady to pitch. Lovelady retired the first two hitters.

The Brewers manager Craig Counsell sent in William Contreras to pinch-hit for the DH Rudy Tellez. Contreras came through for the Brewers with a blast that went over the centerfield wall to tie the game at 1-1. It was Contreras’ eighth home run of the year.

 Neither team scored in the ninth, and the game went into extra innings.

In the tenth, with Tony Kemp running for Jonah Bride, Aledmys Diaz singled up the middle to drive in Kemp with the winning run. It was Diaz’s third hit of the game. Left Sammy Long pitched a scoreless tenth to preserve the win for the A’s. Oakland wins its fourth straight game 2-1.

Game Notes: With the win, the A’s are now 16-50 for the year. The Brewers, tied for first place in the NL Central Division with the Pittsburgh Pirates, fell to 34-31. The A’s have beaten the Pirates twice and the Brewers twice in the last four games.

The hitting star for the A’s was Aldemys Diaz, with a double and two singles. 

The winning pitcher was Shintaro Fujinami. Fujinami pitched a scoreless ninth inning to get the win. He is now 3-6 for the year. Lefty Sammy Long earned his first save. Brewers’ reliever Joel Payamps, who was with Oakland last year, was the losing pitcher.

The Line score for Oakland was two runs, seven hits, and no errors. The Line for Milwaukee was one run, six hits, and one error.

Oakland will play the Brewers on Sunday. The game will start at 11:10 am.

Lefty J.P.Sears will go for Oakland. Sears is 0-3 with a 4.20 ERA. The Brewers will counter with righty Freddy Peralta (5-5, 4.55 ERA).