A’s get back in the win column with 6-3 victory

Paul Blackburn works his worst outing of the season to date but still earns the win thanks to his offense

The impossible has happened: Paul Blackburn gave up a run. Three, in fact.

The righty didn’t have his best stuff Wednesday afternoon against the St. Louis Cardinals but for the first time in 2024, his team around him were really able to rally to get Blackburn the win - his second of the season. The 6-3 win puts the A’s now at 8-11 for the season as they avoid the sweep.

After failing to do much offensively the first time around the order, the A’s wasted no time the second time around against Steven Matz. Max Schumann, todays ninth-place better, began the bottom of the third with a walk and the next batter, Esteury Ruiz, continued his early season revenge tour with a two-run bomb to left field.

The Cardinals would respond the next half inning while ending a league-high streak in the making.

Blackburn had gone 22.1 straight scoreless innings after cruising through the first three of todays game, but the Cardinals hit him hard in the fourth. Back-to-back singles set up the red-hot Willson Contreras, and he smacked an RBI Double to left to cut the lead in half. Contreras killed the A’s all series going 5-12 with a pair of RBIs.

Two batters latter, Ivan Herrera gave the Cardinals a 3-2 lead with a two-run RBI single to center. The A’s second-double play of the game at the time got Blackburn out of the inning soon after, but he’d give up four hits in the inning — over ¹⁄₃ of his seasons total entering Wednesday.

Blackburn bounced back in the fifth working a scoreless frame while striking out two, and the A’s offense would strike again in the bottom half.

Back-to-back singles from Tyler Nevin and Zack Gelof set up first and second for Shea Langeliers, and he’d tie the game up with an RBI double to left center that got stuck under the padding.

The next two batters, Abraham Toro and Darell Hernaiz, would be retired via groundout and flyball, but with no outs prior, both outs would be productive as it grew the A’s lead to 5-3.

In the sixth, the Cardinals had Contreras at third with just one out after he doubled to start the inning. Blackburn would get the next batter to groundout while keeping the run at third, but manager Mark Kotsay would remove him for T.J. McFarland who got out of the inning harmless.

Blackburn went 5.2 innings while surrendering six hits and three runs. He struck out seven but also walked five men while entering Wednesday with just three free passes through three starts. His ERA is now 1.08.

The A’s added a sixth run in the bottom half thanks to a Nevin RBI single to center.

Nevin went ³⁄₄ today and increases his season average to .303 after slashing .316 through his last seven games.

After McFarland, Austin Adams worked a three up, three down top of the seventh. Lucas Erceg followed suit in the seventh while striking out two. Cardinals hitters would strike out 12 times total Wednesday.

Speaking of strikeout, the electric Mason Miller closed the door in the ninth working around a lead-off walk while striking out two in his own regard to solidify his fourth save of the season.

With the win, the A’s finish their interleague homestand at 3-3. They’ll get an off day tomorrow then be on the road from 4/19 - 4/28 in Cleveland, New York and Baltimore.

The A’s kick off a three game series against Stephen Vogt and the Cleveland Guardians on Friday with Joe Boyle and Triston McKenzie currently slated to square off on the bump. Cleveland took ³⁄₄ against Oakland in the Bay Area to begin the 2024 season just a few weeks ago but McKenzie never pitched.

First pitch on Friday is at 4:10 PM PDT.