WEST SACRAMENTO (Interstat) — The Pittsburgh Pirates pounded out 16 hits and rolled to a 12-4 victory over the Athletics on Wednesday night at Sutter Health Park, evening the three-game series and improving to 38-37.

Braxton Ashcraft earned the win, his sixth against three losses, allowing two runs on three hits over six innings with six strikeouts and two walks. Aaron Civale took the loss, falling to 5-3 after surrendering seven runs on nine hits in three-plus innings.

The Pirates struck quickly, scoring three runs in the first inning. Spencer Horwitz led off with a double to right field, and Brandon Lowe walked. Bryan Reynolds hit a ground-rule double to right, scoring Horwitz and sending Lowe to third. Ryan O’Hearn followed with a double to left, driving in both Lowe and Reynolds for a 3-0 lead.

Pittsburgh added two more in the second inning. Jared Triolo singled, and after a lineout, Horwitz doubled to put runners at second and third. Lowe singled to center, scoring Triolo, and Reynolds singled sharply to center to bring home Horwitz, making it 5-0.

The Pirates extended the lead to 7-0 in the fourth. Lowe walked again, and O’Hearn crushed a two-run homer to left field, his 11th of the season. Two more runs crossed in the sixth on a solo home run by Marcell Ozuna, his sixth.

The game’s decisive moment came in the seventh inning when Pittsburgh sent 10 batters to the plate and scored five runs. Ozuna led off with a solo homer to center. Jake Mangum singled, and Jared Triolo and Henry Davis were both hit by pitches, loading the bases. Horwitz walked to force in Mangum, and Lowe hit a sacrifice fly to left, scoring Triolo. After Reynolds struck out, O’Hearn singled to center, driving in Davis and Horwitz. Nick Gonzales singled to put runners at first and second, but Ozuna struck out to end the inning with the Pirates ahead 12-2.

The Athletics mounted a brief rally in the bottom of the sixth. Nick Kurtz singled, Shea Langeliers walked, and a fielding error by shortstop Triolo on a grounder by Tyler Soderstrom loaded the bases. Jacob Wilson singled to center, scoring Kurtz and Langeliers. Jonah Heim singled to put runners at first and second, but Ashcraft struck out Zack Gelof and Lawrence Butler to escape further damage.

Athletics got a solo homer from Henry Bolte in the seventh and a solo shot from Zack Gelof in the ninth, but the deficit was too large.

Horwitz finished with two doubles and a walk, scoring twice and driving in one. O’Hearn doubled, homered, and drove in four runs. Reynolds had two doubles and a single, and Lowe walked three times and drove in two runs. Triolo singled and was hit by a pitch.

For the Athletics, Bolte homered and singled, and Wilson and Heim each had two hits. The Athletics managed only six hits total.

Attendance was announced as 9,024, and the game lasted 2 hours, 50 minutes.

The Pirates won the series two games to one after dropping the opener Monday and winning the middle game Tuesday. They travel to Colorado for a three-game set starting Friday. The Athletics host the Los Angeles Angels on Thursday.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of Athletics 5, Pittsburgh Pirates 3. Interstat’s ELO system gave the Athletics a 52.40 percent probability to win. Pittsburgh had been installed as a pregame favorite with a spread of minus 1.5. The total score of 16 went under the over-under line of 10.