CHICAGO — Seth Brown hit two solo homers, Stephen Piscotty hit a three-run shot, and James Kapriellian pitched six strong innings as the Oakland Athletics beat the Chicago White Sox 7-3 on Friday night for their season-high fourth straight win.
Elvis Andrus also homered for Oakland, which improved to 7-2 since the All-Star break.
White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson and manager Tony La Russa were ejected in the seventh inning after a heated argument with umpires over a called strike that appeared to be high. That call and ensuing ejections by home plate umpire Nick Mahrley elicited more booing from a dissatisfied crowd of 28,503.
Chicago, a preseason favorite to win the AL Central, lost its second straight to fall below .500 (49-50).
Ramón Laureano got on base in the second after José Abreu dropped the ball on a routine throw from third and Andrus followed with a single before Piscotty’s home run gave Oakland a 3-1 lead.
Brown and Andrus ended the night for Lance Lynn (1-4) by homering twice in three at-bats in the sixth. Lynn went 5 2/3 innings and allowed five runs on six hits. He struck out eight and walked none.
Kaprielian (2-5) got Yasmani Grandal to chase an outside slider to escape the sixth as Chicago threatened with runners on second and third. The 2015 first-round draft pick allowed one earned run and four hits, striking out four and walking one.
Chicago’s Josh Harrison cut the deficit to 5-3 in the seventh with a two-run blast to left-center.
Brown hit another solo homer in the eighth for his second career multi-homer game. He hit two against Houston last October.
Andrus scored another run in the ninth on a sacrifice fly by Nick Allen to complete the scoring.
AJ Pollock doubled to left, then scored on Jose Abreu’s grounder past Brown to give Chicago a first-inning lead.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Athletics: RHP Dany Jiménez (strained right shoulder) was set to throw in relief with Triple-A Las Vegas on Friday and Sunday. Kotsay said he would “reconvene” with Jiménez after the weekend before deciding his next step. … INF Jed Lowrie had a scheduled night off after returning from a rehab assignment with Las Vegas on Wednesday. Kotsay said he will play 2B Saturday and DH on Sunday.
White Sox: RHP Davis Martin was recalled from Triple-A Charlotte. … RHP Parker Markel was outrighted to Charlotte. … OF Luis Robert was scratched from a rehab game with Triple-A Charlotte due to cold symptoms. La Russa said the earliest Robert could rejoin the team is on Monday against Kansas City. … La Russa said RHP Joe Kelly could return to the bullpen Saturday after leaving Wednesday’s game in Colorado with right biceps discomfort. … La Russa opted to rest INF Andrew Vaughn, but said he’d play Saturday and Sunday.
UP NEXT
Oakland’s Paul Blackburn (6-6, 4.35 ERA) is slated to start against Johnny Cueto (4-4, 2.89 ERA) on Saturday night.
