Seth Brown homered twice and Stephen Piscotty and Elvis Andrus also went deep to back six strong innings from James Kaprielian and boost the visiting Oakland Athletics to a 7-3 victory against the Chicago White Sox on Friday night.
Oakland stretched its winning streak to a season-high four games while improving to 7-2 since the All-Star break. Once more, a power surge boosted the A’s, who have clubbed 33 of their 87 homers this season in July.
At 14-10 with two games remaining in July, the A’s are assured of their first winning month of the season.
Chicago grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first inning on Jose Abreu’s RBI single against Kaprielian, but the advantage was short-lived.
An Abreu error and Andrus single allowed the first two Oakland batters to reach base in the second before Piscotty launched a go-ahead, three-run home run to left field.
Oakland padded the lead when Brown and Andrus connected for solo home runs over a three-batter span in the sixth.
Kaprielian capped a sterling July with six solid innings, scattering one run and four hits with one walk and four strikeouts. While the right-hander took three no-decisions in his five July starts, Kaprielian (2-5) won the two others, all while spacing just six earned runs in 28 innings.
The White Sox welcomed Kaprielian’s departure from the game, drawing to within 5-3 on Josh Harrison’s two-run homer in the seventh.
Brown connected for a solo shot in the eighth, however, and Chicago came no closer.
White Sox righty Lance Lynn fell to 1-4 after yielding five runs (four earned) and six hits in 5 2/3 innings. Lynn struck out eight and did not walk a batter in a game that featured just one free pass between the two teams.
Davis Martin allowed two runs in 3 1/3 innings of relief for Chicago.
Andrus paced the Oakland attack with three hits. The White Sox had three doubles among their six hits.
–Field Level Media