Baz dazzles in career-best scoreless outing

OAKLAND -- It’s pretty rare these days to see two pitchers get through seven innings without the bullpen getting up. But that happened Tuesday at the Oakland Coliseum as Tampa Bay’s Shane Baz and Oakland’s Joey Estes matched pitch-for-pitch through seven innings.

But Estes blinked first. The A’s right-hander gave up a solo home run with two outs in the top of the eighth to Jose Siri as the Rays took a 1-0 win in just an hour and 54 minutes.

Baz got the win, his first of the year after returning from Tommy John surgery. He also went a career-high 7 2/3 innings. The right-hander allowed three hits, struck out four and walked three on 92 pitches.

“It felt good,” Baz said. “I felt that I attacked well. Got ahead of a lot of guys and that always helps. It felt good, glad I could put us in a chance to win and that we pulled it out.”

Consider A’s manager Mark Kotsay impressed.

“His slider, even to lefties, looked like a pretty solid pitch,” Kotsay said. “He had velo with a 97 mph fastball. He mixed his pitches well. We’ll have to go back and go over the film. It’s always difficult to see from the side in the dugout as to the quality of the pitches. But the kid did a great job. He executed his game plan and shut our offense down.”

Siri had been benched for a couple of games last week. He returned to the lineup on Monday and came up with the big hit, blasting a ball out to deep center field.

“It felt really good,” Siri said through a translator. “I feel blessed to be able to hit the game-winning homer. I’m glad we were able to get that win. It was good for us."

“Everybody knows that he’s a great hitter," Baz said. "One was enough tonight.”

Before Siri’s home run, only one runner reached third base in the game -- Yandy Díaz, who doubled in the sixth and advanced on a groundout but was stranded.

Estes allowed the one run on three hits, striking out five and walking one on 94 pitches.

“He [Estes] pitched really well,” Siri said. “He was able to control the game up until the eighth inning.”

Despite his strong start and first win in two years, Baz said he didn't keep the game ball. However, he was excited to pitch to catcher Rob Brantly, who was playing his first Major League game in two seasons. The two worked together in Triple-A Durham when Baz was working his way back from the injury.

“Rob Brantly deserves all the credit in the world,” Baz said. “Caught a heck of a game. We chatted yesterday. He knows me pretty good. He did awesome. He was amazing back there. Glad we could get him a shutout.”

Brantly’s family drove seven hours from Southern California to the game. Afterward, he was holding his eight-month-old son, Bennett, in his arms as he spoke to the media.

“It was incredible,” he said. “I didn’t find out that they were actually going to be able to make it until this morning. I didn’t find them [in the stands] until mid-game. But man, did it lift my spirits when I saw them. It gave me something extra today.”

Brantly was also happy to be back working with Baz.

“I think everybody witnessed how electric his stuff was,” Brantly said. “He had all four of his pitches going today."

At this point, Bennett made a move for a television reporter’s microphone.

“Benny says Baz did a fantastic job tonight, too,” Brantly said.