Suzuki homers; A’s sweep Pirates

Associated Press

OAKLAND, Calif.

Given a second chance, Kurt Suzuki gave the Oakland Athletics the lead.

Suzuki homered with two outs in the eighth inning after a dropped foul popup and the Athletics beat Pittsburgh 3-2 Sunday, the Pirates’ 17th straight road loss.

With the score 2-all, Pirates reliever Evan Meek (3-2) struck out the first two batters in the eighth. Suzuki followed with a pop that catcher Jason Jaramillo dropped for an error.

“I thought, ’Not again, not another foul popup,’ ” Suzuki said. “I saw him drop it out and it gave me renewed life. I thought, ’OK, this is the break I needed. Let’s do something about it.’ ”

Two pitches later, Suzuki hit his 10th home run. The A’s won with only three hits.

“I missed it,” Jaramillo said. “That’s it. I should have had it.”

Pirates manager John Russell was a little more explicit.

“We stunk in every aspect,” he said. “Two stupid mistakes spoiled a very nice start by our pitcher. You can’t play like that and expect to win.”

The game ended with a strange twist. Pinch-hitter Delwyn Young led off the ninth with a single and, with two outs, was hit by Pedro Alvarez’s grounder near first base for the final out.

The road losing streak is the second-longest in Pirates’ history, trailing only a 19-game slide in 1985.