Esteury Ruiz homers again, helps Athletics avoid sweep

The Oakland A's avoided a sweep at the hands of the St. Louis Cardinals, fighting their way to a 6-3 victory in Wednesday's afternoon matchup.

The recently recalled Esteury Ruiz led the way for the A's, hitting a two-run homer in the top of the second. In total, Ruiz posted 2 runs, 2 RBI, and a steal on the day. It's the second home run that Ruiz has hit since getting recalled prior to Monday's game.

Tyler Nevin had himself a three-hit afternoon and Shea Langeliers came through in a big spot, banging a ground rule double that scored Nevin and tied the game at 3 in the bottom of the 5th.

Athletics' starter Paul Blackburn stretched his scoreless innings streak to 22.1 before allowing 3 runs in the top of the fourth. The streak comes in as the second longest in franchise history, just shy of the 23 inning mark posted by Harry Krouse back in 1910. It is, however, the longest such streak since the A's moved to Oakland back in 1968.

At the end of the day, it was a solid outing from Blackburn. He went 5.2 innings, giving up 3 runs on 6 hits while striking out 7 and walking 5. His ERA jumped to 1.08 on the year but he was able to capture the win, bringing his record to 2-0.

The A's bullpen was sharp. TJ McFarland, Austin Adams, Lucas Erceg, and Mason Miller combined to throw 3.1 scoreless innings, allowing just one walk and no hits between them. Miller earned his fourth save of the season and again was blowing fastballs past Cardinals' hitters in the 9th.

The Athletics will get the day off tomorrow as they get ready to travel to Cleveland for a three-game series this weekend that'll be part of a 10-game road trip. Joe Boyle is currently slated to pitch on Friday, followed by Alex Wood on Saturday and Ross Stripling on Sunday afternoon.

After that, the A's will travel to New York to take on the Yankees for four games, then to Baltimore for a three-game set before coming back to Oakland on the 29th.