JJ Bleday hit two homers, drove in three runs and scored three times to power the visiting Athletics past the St. Louis Cardinals 11-3 Monday afternoon.
Zack Gelof (3-for-5, homer, two runs), Tyler Soderstrom (2-for-5, three RBIs), Jacob Wilson (3-for-4, two runs) and Darell Hernaiz (2-for-4, walk, two runs) also had big games for the Athletics, who pounded out 15 hits to snap a three-game losing streak.
Athletics starter Luis Morales (3-0) allowed two runs on five hits in 5 2/3 innings. He struck out eight and walked one.
Ivan Herrera hit a home run for the Cardinals and Lars Nootbaar went 3-for-4 with a run.
Cardinals starter Sonny Gray (12-8) allowed seven runs on 10 hits, including three homers, in six innings. He struck out five and walked three.
The Athletics moved ahead 3-0 in the fourth inning on Hernaiz’s single, Bleday’s two-run homer and Gelof’s solo blast.
Herrera’s homer in the bottom of the inning cut the deficit to 3-1.
The Athletics extended their lead to 5-1 in the sixth inning. Hernaiz hit a double and scored on Colby Thomas’ single. After Thomas was thrown out trying to take second on that play, Bleday hit another homer, 428 feet to right.
The Cardinals trimmed it to 5-2 in the bottom of the inning when Nootbaar singled, Herrera walked and Masyn Winn slapped an RBI single.
But the Athletics extended their lead to 7-2 in the seventh inning. Butler walked, took third on Wilson’s single and scored on Brent Rooker’s ground-rule double.
After Ryan Fernandez relieved Gray, Soderstrom hit an RBI single.
The Athletics pushed their lead to 11-2 in the eighth inning. Bleday reached on an error, Gelof hit a ground-rule double, Willie MacIver delivered a run-scoring groundout and Butler hit an RBI single to chase Fernandez.
Wilson hit a double and Soderstrom smacked a two-run double against Chris Roycroft.
The Cardinals made it 11-3 in the ninth inning on Thomas Saggese’s double and Jose Fermin’s RBI single.
