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Albies homer helps Braves beat Oakland 4-2, drop A's to 12-46

Oakland Athletics starting pitcher James Kaprielian, right, walks back to the mound as Atlanta Braves' Ozzie Albies, left, rounds the bases after hitting a two-run home run during the fifth inning of a baseball game in Oakland, Calif., Thursday, May 31, 2023. (AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn)

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Ozzie Albies hit a go-ahead, two-run homer in a three-run fifth inning, and the Atlanta Braves beat Oakland Athletics 4-2 on Wednesday to deny the Athletics’ bid for their first three-game winning streak this season.

Coming off their second pair of consecutive wins, the A’s lost for the 20th time in 24 games and fell to 12-46. They are 24 1/2 games behind AL West-leading Texas.

Oakland drew just 6,429 to the Coliseum, the 22nd time in 31 home games attendance has been under 10,000.

Jared Shuster (2-2) allowed two runs, three hits and four walks in 5 1/3 innings to win consecutive decisions for the first time this season. Jesse Chavez, A.J. Minter, Nick Anderson and Raisel Iglesias combined to retire Oakland’s last 11 batters, with Iglesias getting three outs for his fifth save in six chances.

Oakland had three hits, the seventh time the A’s had three hits or fewer.

Orlando Arcia had three singles and a walk, Ronald Acuña Jr. had two hits and drove in a run and Atlanta won for the third time in its last nine road games.

James Kaprielian (0-6) has the most consecutive losing decisions for an Oakland pitcher at a season’s start since Mike Mohler began 0-8 in 1997. Kaprielian gave up three runs and five hits in 4 2/3 innings.

Albies homered on a slider for a 2-0 lead in the fifth. His 11 home runs are his most since a career-high 30 in 2021, when he was an All-Star.

Riley, whose fielding error at third a night earlier allowed the A’s to score the game-ending run, was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the fifth following a two-out intentional walk to former A’s first baseman Matt Olson.

Oakland closed to 3-2 in the sixth on Ramón Laureano’s RBI single and Carlos Perez’s run-scoring groundout. Acuña hit an RBI single off Ken Waldichuk in the seventh.

TRAINER”S ROOM

Athletics: C Shea Langeliers was given the day off after a night game.

UP NEXT

Braves: RHP Charlie Morton (5-5, 3.59 ERA) faces visiting Arizona in the opener of a three-game series in Atlanta on Friday. Morton hasn’t beat the Diamondbacks since 2018/

Athletics: LHP Hogan Harris (0-0, 10.13) is scheduled to make his first big league start Friday in Miami, although manager Mark Kotsay didn’t rule out using an opener.

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