A's hammer Roansy Contreras in 1st inning, hold off Pirates rally to win series

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When the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Oakland A's on Monday to move into sole possession of first place in the NL Central, manager Derek Shelton was quick to caution it was too early to focus on the standings.

It was a wise warning.

The worst team in baseball hammered Pirates starter Roansy Contreras for seven runs on six hits and two walks in one-third of an inning, and the A's survived a ninth-inning rally for a 9-5 win Wednesday before 14,550 at PNC Park.

"For some reason, it was hard for me to get into a rhythm," Contreras said through interpreter Stephen Morales. "I felt like my body wasn't connected to my arm, and it was hard for me to make pitches."

It was the second consecutive loss for the Pirates (32-29) as they slipped to a game behind the Milwaukee Brewers (33-28), who hosted the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday night.

It marked only the third time this season the A's (14-50) have won back-to-back games, their first since doing so against Atlanta on May 29-30. It was their third series win of the season, their first on the road since taking two of three at Kansas City from May 5-7.

The A's tied a season high with 17 hits. Oakland rookie left-hander Hogan Harris (1-0), who earned a win in his first major-league start after three relief appearances, allowed three runs on four hits and two walks with one strikeout in five innings.

Contreras (3-5) walked leadoff batter Ryan Noda, then gave up a single to Seth Brown and an RBI single to Brent Rooker as the A's took a 1-0 lead. Ramon Laureano drew a walk to load the bases, and Jace Peterson followed with a two-run double for a 3-0 lead.

Jonah Bride and JJ Bleday hit back-to-back RBI singles to make it 5-0. When Contreras got Shea Langeliers swinging at a full-count slider, the PNC Park crowd gave a Bronx cheer. After Kevin Smith hit a dribbler to Contreras and beat the throw to first, Shelton had seen enough.

The Pirates planned to move Contreras to the bullpen before Vince Velasquez re-injured his right elbow, forcing Contreras to return to the starting rotation after one relief appearance. Shelton said the Pirates haven't decided whether Contreras will make his next start.

"I don't know. Learning experience here," Shelton said. "We have to sit down and talk about it. We go 0-2 to the first hitter, we walk him. We don't execute with two strikes. He didn't execute the breaking ball."

Lefty Rob Zastryzny replaced Contreras, but his first eight pitches were balls as he walked Noda and Brown on four pitches with the bases loaded as the A's stretched their lead to 7-0.

Contreras expected a short outing because of a piggyback start with Luis Ortiz but had to endure eight innings of watching the Pirates attempt to overcome the hole he dug. It was the second consecutive game and third time this season he allowed five or more runs and the sixth time he gave up six hits or more in a start.

"You definitely feel uncomfortable after coming out of the game so early," Contreras said. "That gives you room to think about all the stuff that you did or you could do, but it's part of the game. Just continue to work hard, and we’re going to be a lot better."

The Pirates cut it to 7-1 when Rodolfo Castro crushed Hogan Harris’ 2-0 fastball 430 feet and into the bullpen in left-center for his sixth home run in the second inning. After Carlos Santana walked and Ke’Bryan Hayes singled, Castro delivered a two-run double to left-center to cut it to 7-3 in the fourth but was stranded at second.

Hayes blasted Lucas Erceg's 0-2 slider to left field at an exit velocity of 103.5 mph, and when the ball skipped off Brown's glove Hayes sprinted to third and slid in head-first for a triple with one out in the sixth. But the Pirates left him stranded as Erceg struck out Castro, and Richard Lovelady got Josh Palacios swinging to end the inning.

Ortiz pitched five innings in relief, giving up two runs on 10 hits and two walks. Noda lined Ortiz's 1-0 fastball 361 feet down the left-field line for his sixth home run to give the A's an 8-3 lead in the seventh. Ortiz then gave up back-to-back doubles to Brown and Rooker, which increased Oakland's lead to 9-3.

In the bottom of the seventh, Jason Delay drew a walk against lefty Ken Waldichuk. Andrew McCutchen followed with a single down the third-base line, his first hit in five days, which brought him to within two of 2,000 for his career. Bryan Reynolds drew a walk to load the bases, and Connor Joe walked to score Delay and cut it to 9-4. But Santana grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to end the rally.

The A's had at least one runner every inning until the ninth, when Pirates lefty Angel Perdomo had two strikeouts and retired the side in order. The Pirates went 3 for 11 with runners in scoring position and left nine on base, including the bases loaded in the ninth.

In the bottom of the ninth, Ji Hwan Bae drew a leadoff walk and Delay was hit by a pitch. McCutchen grounded into a forceout at second but beat the throw to prevent a double play. With runners on first and third, Reynolds singled to right to score Bae and make it 9-5.

When the A's brought in right-hander Trevor May, the Pirates had Tucupita Marcano pinch-hit for Joe and he responded with a single to right to load the bases and bring the tying run to the plate.

Santana hit a pop fly to right, and Hayes grounded out to first to end the game.

"We gave up seven in the first, so that makes it tough," Shelton said. "We climbed back into it. We brought the tying run to the plate in the ninth. We had a situation in the seventh where we had the bases loaded in the seventh with one out. They kept playing. I give them credit for that. … We couldn't get the big hit to get right back to it."

Kevin Gorman is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Kevin by email at [email protected] or via Twitter .

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