Acuña hits 2 homers as Braves end 13-game losing streak in California with win over A's

WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Ronald Acuña Jr. hit two home runs, including a towering blast to lead off Wednesday night's game against the Athletics, and the Atlanta Braves hit a season-high five homers in a 9-2 victory.

The Braves had lost 13 consecutive games in the state of California.

It was the 14th career multi-homer performance for Acuña, who opened the game with a shot to left field that went out of the Triple-A ballpark.

Acuña, who will compete in Monday's Home Run Derby in his home stadium, added another solo homer in the fourth inning to right field on a pitch well outside the strike zone.

Drake Baldwin hit a three-run homer for the Braves, Austin Riley had a two-run shot and Marcell Ozuna added a solo home run — all off A's starter Mitch Spence (2-5), who lasted six innings despite allowing nine hits and eight runs.

Braves right-hander Bryce Elder (3-6) gave up eight hits, allowed two earned runs and struck out seven batters in 6 2/3 innings for his first victory since May 4, a 4-3 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers. He had gone 0-5 with a 6.59 ERA over eight starts since then.

Baldwin's three-run, 431-foot homer to right-center field in the first inning gave the Braves a 4-0 lead.

In addition to ending their long California skid, the Braves were 0-11 in the Golden State this year. Their last victory in the state until now was 3-1 over the Los Angeles Angels last Aug. 18.

The teams wrap up their three-game series on Thursday. Braves RHP Spencer Strider (3-7, 3.93 ERA) is scheduled to face A's LHP JP Sears (7-7. 4.76). The teams split the first two games.

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Athletics starting pitcher Mitch Spence throws to an Atlanta Braves batter during the first inning of a baseball game Wednesday, July 9, 2025, in West Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Sergio Estrada)

Atlanta Braves' Ronald Acuña Jr. poses for a photo before the start of a baseball game against the Athletics, Wednesday, July 9, 2025, in West Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Sergio Estrada)

Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Bryce Elder throws to an Athletics batter during the first inning of a baseball game Wednesday, July 9, 2025, in West Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Sergio Estrada)

Atlanta Braves' Drake Baldwin hits a three-run home run during the first inning of a baseball game against the Athletics, Wednesday, July 9, 2025, in West Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Sergio Estrada)

Atlanta Braves' Ronald Acuña Jr. hits a one-run home run during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Athletics, Wednesday, July 9, 2025, in West Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Sergio Estrada)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sluggish December hiring concluded a year of weak employment gains that have frustrated job seekers even though layoffs and unemployment have remained low.

Employers added just 50,000 jobs last month, nearly unchanged from a downwardly revised figure of 56,000 in November, the Labor Department said Friday. The unemployment rate slipped to 4.4%, its first decline since June, from 4.5% in November, a figure also revised lower.

The data suggests that businesses are reluctant to add workers even as economic growth has picked up. Many companies hired aggressively after the pandemic and no longer need to fill more jobs. Others have held back due to widespread uncertainty caused by President Donald Trump’s shifting tariff policies, elevated inflation, and the spread of artificial intelligence, which could alter or even replace some jobs.

Still, economists were encouraged by the drop in the unemployment rate, which had risen in the previous four straight reports. It had also alarmed officials at the Federal Reserve, prompting three cuts to the central bank's key interest rate last year. The decline lowered the odds of another rate reduction in January, economists said.

“The labor market looks to have stabilized, but at a slower pace of employment growth,” Blerina Uruci, chief economist at T. Rowe Price, said. There is no urgency for the Fed to cut rates further, for now."

Some Federal Reserve officials are concerned that inflation remains above their target of 2% annual growth, and hasn't improved since 2024. They support keeping rates where they are to combat inflation. Others, however, are more worried that hiring has nearly ground to a halt and have supported lowering borrowing costs to spur spending and growth.

November's job gain was revised slightly lower, from 64,000 to 56,000, while October's now shows a much steeper drop, with a loss of 173,000 positions, down from previous estimates of a 105,000 decline. The government revises the jobs figures as it receives more survey responses from businesses.

The economy has now lost an average of 22,000 jobs a month in the past three months, the government said. A year ago, in December 2024, it had gained 209,000 a month. Most of those losses reflect the purge of government workers by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency.

Nearly all the jobs added in December were in the health care and restaurant and hotel industries. Health care added 38,500 jobs, while restaurants and hotels gained 47,000. Governments — mostly at the state and local level — added 13,000.

Manufacturing, construction and retail companies all shed jobs. Retailers cut 25,000 positions, a sign that holiday hiring has been weaker than previous years. Manufacturers have shed jobs every month since April, when Trump announced sweeping tariffs intended to boost manufacturing.

Wall Street and Washington are looking closely at Friday's report as it's the first clean reading on the labor market in three months. The government didn’t issue a report in October because of the six-week government shutdown, and November’s data was distorted by the closure, which lasted until Nov. 12.

The hiring slowdown reflects more than just a reluctance by companies to add jobs. With an aging population and a sharp drop in immigration, the economy doesn't need to create as many jobs as it has in the past to keep the unemployment rate steady. As a result, a gain of 50,000 jobs is not as clear a sign of weakness as it would have been in previous years.

And layoffs are still low, a sign firms aren't rapidly cutting jobs, as typically happens in a recession. The “low-hire, low-fire” job market does mean current workers have some job security, though those without jobs can have a tougher time.

Ernesto Castro, 44, has applied for hundreds of jobs since leaving his last in May. Yet the Los Angeles resident has gotten just three initial interviews, and only one follow-up, after which he heard nothing.

With nearly a decade of experience providing customer support for software companies, Castro expected to find a new job pretty quickly as he did in 2024.

“I should be in a good position,” Castro said. “It’s been awful.”

He worries that more companies are turning to artificial intelligence to help clients learn to use new software. He hears ads from tech companies that urge companies to slash workers that provide the kind of services he has in his previous jobs. His contacts in the industry say that employees are increasingly reluctant to switch jobs amid all the uncertainty, which leaves fewer open jobs for others.

He is now looking into starting his own software company, and is also exploring project management roles.

December’s report caps a year of sluggish hiring, particularly after April's “liberation day” tariff announcement by Trump. The economy generated an average of 111,000 jobs a month in the first three months of 2025. But that pace dropped to just 11,000 in the three months ended in August, before rebounding slightly to 22,000 in November.

Last year, the economy gained just 584,000 jobs, sharply lower than that more than 2 million added in 2024. It's the smallest annual gain since the COVID-19 pandemic decimated the job market in 2020.

Subdued hiring underscores a key conundrum surrounding the economy as it enters 2026: Growth has picked up to healthy levels, yet hiring has weakened noticeably and the unemployment rate has increased in the last four jobs reports.

Most economists expect hiring will accelerate this year as growth remains solid, and Trump's tax cut legislation is expected to produce large tax refunds this spring. Yet economists acknowledge there are other possibilities: Weak job gains could drag down future growth. Or the economy could keep expanding at a healthy clip, while automation and the spread of artificial intelligence reduces the need for more jobs.

Productivity, or output per hour worked, a measure of worker efficiency, has improved in the past three years and jumped nearly 5% in the July-September quarter. That means companies can produce more without adding jobs. Over time, it should also boost worker pay.

Even with such sluggish job gains, the economy has continued to expand, with growth reaching a 4.3% annual rate in last year's July-September quarter, the best in two years. Strong consumer spending helped drive the gain. The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta forecasts that growth could slow to a still-solid 2.7% in the final three months of last year.

FILE - A hiring sign is displayed at a grocery store in Northbrook, Ill., Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)