A’s beat Pirates for second straight win

PITTSBURGH — The Oakland Athletics began a three-game series in Pittsburgh by essentially doing whatever they could to give away what became a 15th straight road loss.

The fundamentals manager Mark Kotsay keeps telling his players they need to be great at were lacking. Yet, rather than have one missed opportunity bleed into another, the A’s responded by doing something that’s been almost historically rare during the first two months of the season.

They won. Twice. Ryan Noda homered and reached base four times and Hogan Harris took advantage of a massive first inning by his teammates on Wednesday to earn his first major league victory, 9-5 over Pittsburgh.

Less than 18 hours after winning on the road for the first time in a month, Oakland jumped on Roansy Contreras (35) early to capture a series for just the third time in 2023.

“Monday night was not great by any measure,” Kotsay said. “And for them to understand that, to realize and recognize it and come out and be better on Tuesday and again on Wednesday shows signs of ... resiliency.”

Oakland’s first seven batters reached against Contreras (3-5). All seven scored to give Harris (1-0) a massive cushion before he threw a pitch. Harris stayed warm in the dugout during the 30-minute top of the first by throwing a weighted ball against a wall.

The 26-year-old then navigated five innings for his first major-league victory and was greeted by a traditional beer shower in the locker room afterward as “Message In a Bottle” — with the signature phrase “sending out an SOS to the world” — blared on speakers that have typically been silent during postgame as the losses piled up.