OAKLAND, Calif. — Ozzie Albies hit a go-ahead, two-run homer in a three-run fifth inning, and the Atlanta Braves beat Oakland Athletics, 4-2, on Wednesday to deny the A’s their first three-game winning streak this season.
Rookie Jared Shuster (2-2) — who played for New Bedford High and Tabor Academy before pitching at Wake Forest — allowed two runs, three hits, and four walks in 5⅓ innings to win consecutive decisions for the first time this season. Jesse Chavez, A.J. Minter, Nick Anderson, and Raisel Iglesias combined to retire Oakland’s last 11 batters, with Iglesias getting three outs for his fifth save in six chances.
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Coming off their second pair of consecutive wins, the A’s lost for the 20th time in 24 games and fell to 12-46. They are 24½ games behind AL West-leading Texas.
Oakland drew just 6,429 to the Coliseum, the 22nd time in 31 home games attendance has been under 10,000.
Oakland had three hits, the seventh time the A's had three hits or fewer.
Orlando Arcia had three singles and a walk, Ronald Acuña Jr. had two hits and drove in a run, and Atlanta won for the third time in its last nine road games.
James Kaprielian (0-6) has the most consecutive losing decisions for an Oakland pitcher at a season’s start since Mike Mohler began 0-8 in 1997. Kaprielian gave up three runs and five hits in 4⅔ innings.
Albies homered on a slider for a 2-0 lead in the fifth. His 11 home runs are his most since a career-high 30 in 2021, when he was an All-Star.
Riley, whose fielding error at third a night earlier allowed the A’s to score the game-ending run, was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the fifth following a two-out intentional walk to former A’s first baseman Matt Olson.
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Oakland closed to 3-2 in the sixth on Ramón Laureano’s RBI single and Carlos Perez’s run-scoring groundout. Acuña hit an RBI single off Ken Waldichuk in the seventh.