Jacob Wilson went 3-for-4 with a home run and two RBIs as the Athletics rallied to defeat the Chicago White Sox 6-5 on Friday night in West Sacramento, Calif., for their third straight win.
Tyler Soderstrom also had three hits, an RBI and a run, and Brent Rooker drove in the go-ahead run with a double for the Athletics in the opener of a three-game series.
Justin Sterner (1-0) picked up his first major league win with 1 1/3 innings of hitless relief, and Mason Miller notched his eighth save in eight opportunities despite serving up a two-run homer to Brooks Baldwin in the ninth.
Baldwin finished 2-for-4 and also had a double. Miguel Vargas doubled among his two hits and had an RBI, Nick Maton and Matt Thaiss each had an RBI double and Lenyn Sosa also had two hits for Chicago.
Sean Burke (1-4) took the loss after allowing four runs (three earned) on five hits over 5 1/3 innings. He took over in the second inning for opener Tyler Gilbert. Burke walked two and struck out five.
Chicago took a 1-0 lead in the fifth inning when Thaiss walked, advanced to second on a single by Sosa and scored on a single by Vargas.
The Athletics tied it in the bottom half when Wilson led off with his third home run, a 376-foot drive to left.
The White Sox took a 3-1 lead in the sixth on back-to-back RBI doubles by Maton and Thaiss with two out. The A’s answered with two runs in the bottom half of the inning to tie it again when Soderstrom singled, JJ Bleday walked and both scored on when Wilson singled to center and Luis Robert Jr. booted the ball for an error.
The Athletics then took a 5-3 lead in the seventh when Rooker doubled in pinch runner Max Schuemann and Soderstrom followed with an RBI single to center.
The A’s added a valuable insurance run in the eighth when Bleday singled, advanced to third on a single by Wilson and scored on a sacrifice fly by Nick Kurtz.
Chicago made things interesting in the ninth when Sosa led off with a single and Baldwin followed with his third homer of the season down the right field line, the first runs allowed by Miller in his nine games this season.