WEST SACRAMENTO -- On a night when Pirates starting pitcher Braxton Ashcraft briefly flirted with a no-hitter, Ryan O'Hearn got a lot of love from his bat.
Playing in his 800th career game, Pittsburgh’s cleanup hitter had three hits and set a career-high with six RBIs as the Bucs beat the Athletics 12-4 on Wednesday night to secure the series win.
“I haven’t hit the ball really well to left field lately, and that’s a strength of mine,” O’Hearn said. “Kind of working on that, just cleaning some things up mechanically. I feel good. I think I’m trending in the right direction.”
Struggling Marcell Ozuna was back in manager Don Kelly’s lineup and responded with his first home run since May 15. Spencer Horwitz, Bryan Reynolds, Nick Gonzales and Jared Triolo added two hits apiece during a game in which all nine Pirates starters had at least one hit.
It also marked the second straight game in which Pittsburgh reached double-digit hits.
“That’s a key for us, quality at-bats and production up and down the lineup,” O’Hearn said. “Any stretch that we’ve had that’s been really good this season, the common denominator has been the offense has been kind of relentless up and down the lineup.”
Ashcraft, who closed out May with three consecutive wins, got back on track after a bumpy start to June. The right-hander (6-3) had seven strikeouts in six innings and allowed two runs (one earned) and four hits.
The Pirates jumped on A’s starter Aaron Civale early, pushing three runs across in the first inning before many fans at Sutter Health Park had found their seats.
Horwitz doubled to begin the game and Brandon Lowe followed with a walk. Reynolds doubled in one run before O’Hearn knocked in two more.
That was big because Civale was starting for the first time since coming off the injured list. He made one rehab start while out, throwing 4 1/3 perfect innings, before returning. The A’s right-hander might wish he had spent more time out with the way the Pirates knocked him around.
“Up and down it was really consistent in our approach,” Kelly said. “There’s been times where we’ve struggled against Civale, and I thought that we did a really nice job of staying with it and committing to it.”
Pittsburgh’s lead jumped to 5-0 in the second following consecutive RBI singles from Lowe and Reynolds. O’Hearn’s 11th home run of the season, a two-run blast in the fourth, made it 7-0.
”He’s a hitter,” Kelly said. “He was going up the middle [or] the other way the whole time, going backside base hits, and then being able to drive it out to left … huge. Great game from him.”
Ashcraft was brilliant, allowing only two runners -- both on walks -- to reach through the first three innings. The A’s didn’t get their first hit until Jonah Heim’s soft single in the fourth, then didn’t score until Jacob Wilson’s two-run single in the sixth.
“It’s a lot easier when you go out and put up a [three]-spot in the first inning,” Ashcraft said. “It makes pitching really easy, it makes being comfortable being in the zone really easy. Makes throwing heaters in the zone really easy, and everything plays off of that.”
The Pirates head to Colorado for three games against the Rockies starting Friday night.