SF Giants lose series with Oakland A's, falling 8-6 on Sunday
The SF Giants lost to the Oakland Athletics 8-6 on Sunday afternoon, dropping their two-game Bay Bridge series entirely, despite the A's being the worst team in MLB. The Giants will get on the road immediately, heading to Anaheim to face the Angels. They are currently 3.5 games back from the Dodgers for first place in the NL West.
Determined to get out of their rut and begin driving home runners in scoring position, the Giants were aggressive from the very first at bat. Oakland started Luis Medina, who was 3-8 on the season with a 5.35 ERA entering the game. LaMonte Wade Jr., as he usually does in the leadoff spot, got on base, this time via a single. With two outs, Joc Pederson drew a walk and J.D. Davis singled to bring Wade Jr. home. The Giants took an early 1-0 lead, but Michael Conforto struck out, leaving two men stranded.
The A's answered in a similar fashion, taking advantage of uncharacteristic mistakes from starting pitcher Alex Cobb. With two outs, Cobb gave up a double to Zack Gelof, and then a deep triple to Seth Brown that Luis Matos lost completely at the wall in center field. The first inning ended tied 1-1.
In the second, the Giants scored again. Patrick Bailey walked to lead off, before getting out at second on fielder's choice on a Brandon Crawford hit ball. Matos singled to move Crawford to second, and then Wade Jr. knocked a ball to center to score Crawford, putting the Giants at 2-1. But for the second inning in a row, their rally was cut short, and all they tallied was another lone run.
With Cobb back on the mound in the bottom of the second, the Giants looked to maintain their lead. Cobb got Jordan Díaz to ground out before walking Tyler Soderstrom, which would end up being costly. He then got Shea Langeliers out swinging to bring him one out closer to the dugout. But on his first pitch to Nick Allen, he gave up a 395-foot home run to put the score at 3-2, A's. Despite the couple mistake pitches, Cobb didn't appear shaken, getting Esteury Ruiz to line out to end the inning.
Alex Cobb reacts as Oakland Athletics shortstop Nick Allen runs the bases after hitting a two-run home run.
© Stan Szeto-USA TODAY Sports
In the third and fifth, the Giants continued to build their lead, clearly tired of all of the back and forth offense. Pederson walked to lead off the third, and then Davis was safe at first on a fielding error by Díaz. Conforto walked to load the bases, and unlike the Giants' typical outcome in similar situations, Bailey came up big with a single to score Pederson. Crawford grounded into another fielder's choice to score Davis from third and the Giants retook the lead, 4-3.
Former Giant Sam Long, who'd come in to replace Medina, allowed two straight singles to Conforto and Bailey in the fifth before getting Crawford out swinging and getting taken out for Austin Pruitt. Pruitt got Matos to pop out, but then allowed two singles including a bunt from recently returned Thairo Estrada to put the Giants up 6-3.
The A's chipped into that lead in the bottom of the fifth when Allen hit his second home run of the day off of Alex Cobb; that's Allen's first two home run game of his career, and only his second and third home run on the season. The A's ended the inning down two runs, 6-4. In the bottom of the sixth Cobb was taken out of the game for Luke Jackson after giving up a one out double to Seth Brown. Brent Rooker reached base safely on the next play on a throwing error by Crawford, and then Jackson walked Díaz. With the bases loaded, Jackson walked Soderstrom to put the score at 6-5, Giants. Two pitches later, the A's retook the lead 7-6 when Langeliers hit a two-RBI single off Jackson.
Even with new additions to the lineup in Austin Slater, who replaced Pederson, and Blake Sabol, who entered for Luis Matos, the Giants wouldn't score again. Even worse, in the bottom of the seventh, Scott Alexander, who came in for Jackson, gave up a single and a double. The double, a routine fly ball to right field, was completely lost in the sun by Conforto. Tony Kemp, who entered the game for Rooker, piled on the insult when he hit a sacrifice fly to bring the score to 8-6, A's. Ángel Felipe and Trevor May pitched fantastic eighth and ninth innings for the A's to close out the series.
The Giants will head to Southern California for their three game series against the Angels, and hopefully, Shohei Ohtani. First pitch on Monday night is scheduled for 6:38PM Pacific.
