Rookie Carlos Cortes hit two homers and Lawrence Butler also went deep to help the Athletics record a 3-0 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Friday night at West Sacramento, Calif.
Five pitchers combined on a six-hit shutout for the Athletics, who won their second straight game. The A’s (68-80) had six hits.
Cincinnati (74-73) remained 1 1/2 games behind the New York Mets in the battle for the National League’s third wild-card spot. TJ Friedl reached base four times on one hit, two walks and a hit by pitch for the Reds, who had won four of their previous five games.
J.T. Ginn pitched 4 1/3 innings for the A’s before leaving with a right leg cramp. Tyler Ferguson (4-2) replaced him and struck out three while giving up one hit and one walk in 1 2/3 innings.
Hogan Harris pitched the seventh, Justin Sterner worked out of an eighth-inning jam, and Sean Newcomb struck out the side in the ninth for his second save.
Cincinnati’s Brady Singer (13-10) allowed two runs and three hits in six innings. He struck out four and walked one while losing for the first time since Aug. 7.
The Reds went 0-of-12 with runners in scoring position and stranded 11.
Cincinnati’s lone extra-base hit came in the second inning when JJ Bleday lost Will Benson’s fly to deep right-center in the sky and it landed for a triple. Ginn struck out the next three hitters.
Butler hit Singer’s third pitch of the game — a 2-0 sinker — over the wall in left-center for a 1-0 lead.
Cortes jumped on a 1-0 slider while leading off the third inning and deposited it over the right-center wall to double the advantage.
Ginn walked TJ Friedl and Gavin Lux with one out in the fifth. Then after the second pitch to Elly De La Cruz, Ginn came up lame and catcher Shea Langeliers called for the trainers.
Ginn threw two warmup pitches before deciding he couldn’t continue. Ferguson entered and got De La Cruz to line out before striking out Austin Hays to end the frame.
Hays led off the eighth with a single before Sterner struck out Tyler Stephenson and Benson. Spencer Steer drilled a single to left before Hays and Steer worked a double steal. Ke’Bryan Hayes then hit a hard comebacker that caromed off Sterner’s back leg. The pitcher scrambled to get the ball and threw Hayes out at first.
In the bottom of the inning, Cortes smacked a 1-2 fastball from Chase Burns over the wall in left-center for the third homer of his brief career.
