Rookie Richie Palacios delivers big hit in Cleveland Guardians' win over Oakland Athletics

OAKLAND, Calif. — Pinch-hitter Richie Palacios delivered a two-out, two-run double in the ninth inning and the Guardians took advantage of a key error to beat the Oakland Athletics 3-1 on Saturday.

Steven Kwan had two hits in his return to the lineup and the Guardians won their second in a row following a seven-game losing streak. A rookie outfielder, Kwan is batting .354 in his first big league season but had missed five games with a sore hamstring.

A day after the two clubs combined for 17 runs and 21 hits, starters Shane Bieber of the Guardians and Cole Irvin of the A's kept it close into the late innings.

It was 1-1 with one out in the Guardians ninth with a runner on first when Oscar Mercado hit a potential double-play grounder to rookie second baseman Nick Allen, who misplayed it for an error.

Palacios hit a towering double on a 3-1 pitch from Dany Jiménez (1-1) that landed near the base of the wall just past center fielder Christian Pache.

Nick Sandlin (1-1) retired three batters. Emmanuel Clase worked around a two-out double by Elvis Andrus in the ninth for his fourth save.

The Guardians are 2-7 on their 10-game road trip.

Sheldon Neuse homered for the A’s, who have lost five of seven.

Starting well

Bieber allowed seven hits, striking out seven and walking one. Irvin allowed one run in six innings with four strikeouts. A left-hander, Irvin has a 1.13 ERA in his past three appearances.

Trainer's room

Guardians: Infielder Yu Chang (COVID-19 injured list) had a single in two at-bats with the Double-A RubberDucks in the first game of his rehabilitation stint.

Athletics: Tony Kemp was in the lineup after leaving Friday’s game shortly after getting hit in the shoulder by a pitch. … Right-hander Lou Trivino (COVID-19 IL) will make a rehab appearance with Single-A Stockton on Sunday. … Outfielder Ramón Laureano has been held out of the past few games with Las Vegas because of soreness resulting from sleeping issues. Laureano is serving the final days of an MLB suspension and is eligible to return May 8.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Cleveland Guardians score two in ninth to defeat Oakland Athletics