Lourdes Gurriel Jr. led off the ninth with a double and scored the go-ahead run on a sacrifice fly by Jose Herrera to give the Arizona Diamondbacks a 5-3 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Wednesday for their fifth win in six games.
Christian Walker and Corbin Carroll homered as Arizona took two of three from Oakland in the series despite the bullpen giving up another late lead.
Gurriel led off the ninth with a double off Shintaro Fujinami (1-5) for his seventh straight game with an extra-base hit. Two walks loaded the bases before Herrera’s drive to right off Adrian Martinez allowed Gurriel to score easily.
Ketel Marte added an RBI single.
Jose Ruiz (1-0) pitched a scoreless eighth for the win. Miguel Castro pitched a perfect ninth for his third save.
The A’s have lost all eight home series this season.
Arizona starter Ryne Nelson allowed a leadoff double to Esteury Ruiz in the first inning and didn’t give up another hit in 5 1-3 scoreless innings. But his winless streak extended to seven straight starts when Luis Frias gave up a 3-0 lead in the seventh.
Frias had escaped a bases-loaded, one-out jam when he replaced Nelson in the sixth inning. But he walked the first two batters in the seventh before Ramon Laureano tied the game with his second homer in as many days.
Kyle Nelson allowed a grand slam to Ryan Noda in the seventh inning Tuesday night that allowed Oakland to rally from four runs down before winning 9-8 in 12 innings.
Arizona had built a 3-0 lead against Luis Medina on a solo homer by Walker in the second inning and a two-run shot by Carroll in the sixth.
DEAD BIRD
Arizona pitchers aspire to be like Randy Johnson.
Zac Gallen unintentionally got real close in emulating the Hall of Famer.
While warming up in the outfield before Arizona’s game at Oakland on Wednesday, Gallen threw a curveball that hit a bird in midflight, apparently killing the animal.
Johnson infamously killed a bird during a spring training game in 2001. While throwing a pitch against the San Francisco Giants, a bird crossed in front of home plate and was destroyed by the baseball.
SOUVENIR
Oakland’s Tony Kemp ended a long hitless streak with as single in the seventh inning. Kemp had been 0 for 18 since his last hit on May 8 and was 0 for 41 in day games this season. He jokingly signaled to the dugout to ask for the ball.
The inning didn’t end well for Kemp, who was thrown out at home by center fielder Dominic Fletcher trying to score from second on a single by Ruiz.
EMPTY SEATS
The A’s drew their biggest crowd of the three-game series but the paid attendance was still only 4,519. The announced crowd of 2,064 for the opener Monday night was their smallest for a home game fans were allowed to attend since drawing 1,037 against Texas on Sept. 19, 1979. The total attendance for the series was 9,484.
UP NEXT
Diamondbacks: Arizona opens a three-game series at Pittsburgh on Friday night with Gellen (6-1, 2.35 ERA) set to take the mound.
Athletics: Oakland opens a three-game series at Houston on Friday night with Ken Waldichuk (1-2, 7.02) set to start.