On paper, it looked like a pitching mismatch.

The Pittsburgh Pirates started Mitch Keller, who had won seven of eight decisions and had at least eight strikeouts in his last seven starts. The Oakland A’s countered with James Kaprielian, who hadn’t won in any of his six decisions and gave up five or more runs in four of seven starts.

The worst team in baseball knocked Keller around for five runs on eight hits and four walks, as the A’s rolled to a 11-2 win that stopped streaks for both teams Tuesday night before 13,691 at PNC Park.

“I just didn’t execute,” Keller said. “It just comes down to execution. I left too many pitches over the middle and they took advantage. Obviously, with the free passes, it was just not a good night.”

Jace Peterson went 5 for 5 with a pair of home runs and five RBIs, as the A’s (13-50) snapped a five-game losing streak with their first win since a 2-1 walk-off against Atlanta on May 30. It was Oakland’s first road win in 16 games, dating to May 6 at Kansas City.

The Pirates (32-28) ended a six-game winning streak, their second-longest of the season.

After eight quality starts in a nine-game stretch, Keller (7-2) surrendered three or more runs and seven or more hits for the third consecutive start. It was the first time since Opening Day that he walked as many batters. Over his past three starts, Keller has a 7.78 ERA, 1.85 WHIP and a .347 batting average against.

“His breaking stuff wasn’t very sharp, so he didn’t get a ton of swing and misses,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “On top of it, the fastball command was really inconsistent. He just didn’t pitch great.”

Kaprielian (1-6) allowed two runs on four hits with five walks in six innings to earn his first victory of the season. The Pirates took a 1-0 lead when Tucupita Marcano hit a leadoff double to the left field corner, Bryan Reynolds drew a walk and Jack Suwinski hit a grounder that rolled through Peterson’s legs at second base to score Marcano.

Keller wasn’t sharp from the start, walking a pair of batters in throwing 24 pitches in the first inning. In the second, Shea Langeliers drove a 1-1 fastball 423 feet to straightaway center for his eighth home run to tie the game.

The A’s took the lead in the second inning. Ryan Noda hit a leadoff double to left and scored on Seth Brown’s double off the center field wall for a 2-1 advantage.

The Pirates tied it in the fifth after Reynolds singled and Andrew McCutchen and Connor Joe drew walks to load the bases with one out. Josh Palacios grounded into a forceout at second but beat Aledmys Diaz’s throw to first, allowing Reynolds to score to make it 2-2.

The Pirates went 0 for 13 with runners in scoring position, stranding two runners in each of the fourth, fifth and sixth innings.

“We had a ton of opportunities. We didn’t capitalize on ‘em,” said Shelton, noting that the Pirates left nine runners on base. “We had the bases loaded. We had first and third a couple times and didn’t push guys across. We got the guys on base. We just didn’t get ‘em in.”

Diaz singled to start the sixth and scored on Peterson’s single to right off Keller to give the A’s a 3-2 lead. That prompted Shelton to turn to the bullpen, which didn’t fare any better.

Yohan Ramirez gave up an RBI single to Jonah Bride for a 4-2 A’s lead. Esteury Ruiz reached on Connor Joe’s throwing error that loaded the bases. Then the Pirates failed to cover first on Noda’s bouncer to Ramirez, allowing another run to score to make it 5-2.

In the eighth, Chase De Jong walked Langeliers, then gave up a two-run homer to Peterson that made it 7-2. Bride doubled and Brent Rooker hit a two-out, two-run homer to give the A’s a seven-run lead. In the ninth, JJ Bleday doubled off De Jong and Peterson hit another two-run homer to stretch the A’s lead to 11-2.

The Pirates can still win their third consecutive series by beating the A’s in the three-game finale Wednesday afternoon.

“I don’t see a problem with us bouncing back and getting right back after it,” Keller said. “It’s just one of those games where we had a rough night. Just flush it and move on and win the series, and we’ll forget about this.”

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)