OAKLAND, Calif. _ The Pirates' ship has righted. David Freese's two-run, eighth-inning home run cleared the tall right-field wall at Oakland Alameda Coliseum and provided cushion in a 6-3 win. It secured a series sweep of the Oakland Athletics. It secured the Pirates' return to .500.
In their first game of the second half of the season, the Pirates weathered a so-so start from left-hander Francisco Liriano and won their fourth game in a row. The offense tacked on two runs in the fifth, sixth and eighth. The bullpen extended its scoreless streak to 32 2/3 innings.
The Pirates brought their "A" game to Oakland. Now they head to St. Louis for a four-game series against the Cardinals _ the second homecoming this season for the playoff hero Freese.
The hitters in the Pirates' leadoff spot reached base five times Sunday. John Jaso singled twice and was hit by pitch. After Freese entered, he was intentionally walked and then hit his eighth homer off former Pirates reliever John Axford.
Liriano (5-8) stuck around just long enough to win for the first time since May 24. He allowed six hits and three runs in five innings. He struck out two and walked only one, a marked improvement for the man who entered the game leading the league with 54 free passes issued.
Liriano still has not thrown more than six innings in any of his past eight starts.
Athletics right-hander Daniel Mengden gave up seven hits and four runs in 5 1/3 innings.
The Athletics drew first blood in the second. After Khris Davis singled, aging slugger Billy Butler pulled a double into the left-field corner. The rookie Adam Frazier had trouble corralling the baseball on the warning track, so Davis scored from first. A second run scored on a groundout.
Frazier made amends by starting a game-tying rally in the fifth. He cracked a base hit to center and stretched a routine single into a double. The Pirates loaded the bases with one out, and Gregory Polanco sliced a two-run single to center.
The Athletics reclaimed the lead in the fifth by making Liriano labor through long at-bats. Matt McBride doubled on the eighth pitch from Liriano, Tyler Ladendorf grounded out on the seventh and Coco Crisp ripped an RBI single on the sixth. After a mound visit from Ray Searage, Marcus Semien hit a ground-rule double. Two fly balls stranded the runners at second and third.
In the sixth, Frazier tied it again. He drove in Josh Harrison with a triple to right, then scored the go-ahead run on Erik Kratz's infield single that was dropped by the second baseman Ladendorf. A bases-loaded, one-out chance was squandered by the strikeouts of Polanco and Jung Ho Kang.
Manager Clint Hurdle was ejected by home-plate umpire Sam Holbrook in the sixth for arguing balls and strikes. Hurdle has been tossed four times this season, and twice in the past week.
The bullpen's scoreless streak was strained by first-and-third situations in the sixth _ A.J. Schugel wriggled free with a double-play line drive to first base _ and in the seventh, when Neftali Felix got a pop fly and struck out Marcus Semien and Danny Valencia to escape.
After Freese's homer, Tony Watson and Mark Melancon slammed the door on the series. Melancon collected his 24th save this season.
