San Francisco Giants vs Oakland Athletics Match Player Stats On Jul 31, 2017

The Sports Xchange
Aug 1, 2017

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Marcus Semien hit his second career grand slam, powering the Oakland Athletics to an 8-5 victory against the San Francisco Giants at the Oakland Coliseum on Monday night in the opener of the Bay Bridge Series.

The Giants led 3-2 through five innings, but the A's surged ahead 6-3 on Semien's slam in the sixth.

Bruce Maxwell led off the sixth with a walk against reliever Josh Osich and went to third with one out on pinch hitter Rajai Davis' double. Osich (3-2) walked Matt Joyce, loading the bases, and right-hander George Kontos came on to face Semien.

With a 1-1 count, Semien crushed Kontos' belt-high, 92 mph fastball over the left-center-field fence for his fourth home run of the season. It was his first grand slam since April 23, 2014, at Detroit when he played for the Chicago White Sox.

Semien went 2-for-5 and scored twice. Jed Lowrie had three hits, including a double, drove in a run and walked once for the A's. Joyce was 2-for-3, walked twice and scored three runs. Ryon Healy had two hits and drove in two runs.

The Giants cut Oakland's lead to 6-5 with two runs in the seventh, using a double by Carlos Moncrief and singles by Gorkys Hernandez, Denard Span and Brandon Belt. With runners on first and third and two outs, Liam Hendriks came on for the A's to strike out Buster Posey.

The A's extended their lead to 8-5 in the eighth inning when Healy hit a bases-loaded, two-run single with two outs off Hunter Strickland.

Hendriks pitched a scoreless eighth inning, and Blake Treinen pitched a scoreless ninth for his fourth save of the season and first for the Athletics.

A's rookie Paul Blackburn (2-1) allowed five runs over 6 1/3 innings with four strikeouts and one walk. He had his scheduled start moved up one day when right-hander Sonny Gray was traded Monday to the New York Yankees.

Giants right-hander Matt Cain allowed two runs on seven hits over five innings in a no-decision. He walked three and struck out one.

Moncrief went 2-for-5 with a single and a double -- his first two major league hits -- and had his first career RBI. Belt went 2-for-4 with a double, an RBI and a run. Posey had two hits, an RBI and a run.

The Giants took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning when Belt hit a two-out double to right-center field and scored on Posey's single.

The A's answered with two runs in the bottom of the first. Joyce led off with a walk, moved to second on Semien's single and scored on Lowrie's single. Semien scored when Khris Davis lined a sacrifice fly to left.

San Francisco regained the lead with two runs in fourth, moving ahead 3-2.

Posey started the rally with a one-out single and moved to third on Brandon Crawford's single. Jae-Gyun Hwang drove in Posey with a single, and Moncrief brought Crawford home with an infield single, his first career major league hit.

NOTES: Oakland traded RHP Sonny Gray on Monday to the New York Yankees for OF Dustin Fowler, INF Jorge Mateo and RHP James Kaprielian, three highly touted prospects. The A's also included $1.5 million international bonus slot cash in the deal. ... Giants backup C Nick Hundley started against Oakland on Monday night after missing two games because of headaches that developed after being hit in his mask by foul tips Friday against the Dodgers. ... The A's traded INF Adam Rosales to the Arizona Diamondbacks for minor league RHP Jeferson Mejia. ... Giants RHP Johnny Cueto (right hand blisters) made a rehab start Monday night with Class A San Jose and allowed no runs on two hits over three innings. San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy said Cueto likely won't need another rehab start before being activated from the disabled list. ... A's INF/OF Chad Pinder (strained left hamstring) was reinstated from the DL. ... Oakland RHP Kendall Graveman (strained right shoulder) will come off the DL on Thursday to start the series finale against San Francisco.