CHICAGO (AP) — Gage Jump pitched seven effective innings in his first major league win, and the Athletics beat the Chicago Cubs 2-1 on Tuesday night.
Nick Kurtz homered for the A’s, who had lost seven of nine. Zack Gelof also drove in a run.
Jump (1-1) allowed three hits, struck out five and walked one in his second career start. The left-hander, a second-round pick in the 2024 amateur draft, was brought up from Triple-A Las Vegas when Aaron Civale went on the 15-day injured list last week.
Chicago dropped to 5-17 in its last 22 games. It wasted a solid performance by Jameson Taillon (2-5), who surrendered two runs in 6 1/3 innings after going 0-2 with a 9.82 ERA in his previous three starts.
The Cubs threatened in the ninth against Scott Barlow, putting two runners on with no outs. But Alex Bregman struck out swinging and Seiya Suzuki flied out before Hogan Harris retired Ian Happ on a flyball to center for his fifth save.
Kurtz connected with two outs in the third, tying it at 1 with a 383-foot drive to left-center. It was his third homer in four games and No. 11 on the season.
Taillon has been hurt by the longball this year, allowing a major league-high 20 homers in his 12 starts.
The A’s added another run on Gelof’s RBI single in the fourth, a two-out liner over the head of a leaping Nico Hoerner at second base.
The Cubs got three of their four hits in the first two innings. They had runners on second and third with none out in the first, but they only managed one run on Bregman’s groundout to third.
Up next
Athletics left-hander Jeffrey Springs (3-6, 4.07 ERA) and Cubs right-hander Colin Rea (5-3, 4.70 ERA) take the mound on Wednesday night.
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