Gage Jump gets his 1st win as the Athletics beat the Cubs 2-1

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.