OAKLAND — Lawrence Butler singled in the winning run in the bottom of the 10th and accounted for the other run with a solo home run as the Athletics returned home with a 2-1 win Friday night over the Washington Nationals.
Butler’s single to left brought home Max Schueman, who was pinch running at second base.
It was the fifth win in six games for the A’s, who are 6-8. The Nationals fell to 5-8.
Attendance in the first game back after an announcement the A’s would move to Sacramento next season and after winning four of six games on the road was 5,777. That brings the Coliseum attendance to 50,845 in eight games, an average of 6,356.
ln the top of the 10th with Michael Kelly pitching, lead runner Trey Lipscomb was frozen between second and third on a sharply hit ball to first baseman Tyler Nevin. Nevin tagged first, then threw out Lipscomb attempting to reach third. Kelly then got the third out of the inning on an infield pop up.
With Mason Miller getting the night off after a pair of saves against the Texas Rangers, Dany Jimenez opened the ninth and gave up a leadoff home run to Jesse Winker — the fourth hit of the game for the Washington left fielder.
Lawrence Butler’s first home run of the season wasn’t a cheapie, a 445-foot first pitch rocket to right field against Jake Irvin that left his bat at 113.1 miles per hour. The A’s had just one other hit in the game, a single by Seth Brown in the seventh.
Starter Paul Blackburn departed after 6 1/3 innings and 90 pitches, but left with his scoreless streak intact. Winker singled to center and Blackburn struck out Eddie Rosario. Manager Mark Kotsay brought on Austin Adams, who gave up a single to Riley Adams and struck out Luis Garcia Jr.. When Lipscomb walked to lead the bases, left-hander T.J. McFarland came on to strike out C.J. Abrams for the third out.
Lucas Erceg pitched a scoreless eighth for the A’s.
Irvin left after six innings, giving up just one hit on the home run to Butler. He walked two and struck out five.
In the sixth, Blackburn’s own error — he collided with first baseman Ryan Noda on a pop up near the mound with the ball bouncing free — allowed Lane Thomas to reach second with one out. Blackburn retired Joey Gallo on a grounder to first, sending Thomas to third, and got Joey Meneses on a grounder to third to end the threat.
Ground ball double plays to shortstop Nick Allen by Meneses in the fourth and Lipscomb in the fifth allowed Blackburn to escape trouble.
Blackburn nearly gave up his first run of the season in the second inning but was aided by an umpire reversal on a play at the plate. With runners on second and third, Riley Adams chopped a grounder to third that was fielded by J.D. Davis. Davis threw to Shea Langeliers at the plate, but Joey Meneses was initially ruled safe. After the A’s challenged the call, Meneses was called out. Blackburn that got Garcia on a foul pop for the third out.
Meneses and Winker had back-to-back singles to begin the inning.
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Doolittle’s haul
Former A’s reliever Sean Doolittle, a pitching strategist from the Washington Nationals, met with Last Dive Bar co-founder Bryan Johanson to pick up a bag of “Last Dive Bar” wristbands.
There were no organized protests by LDB or any other fans group and banners were scarce in the outfield, with two green “Sell” banners in left and one in right.