Field Level Media
Jul 15, 2018
The Oakland Athletics strung together four consecutive singles in a four-run fourth inning Sunday afternoon that allowed them to hand the San Francisco Giants their first home series loss since April with a 6-2 win in the battle of interleague rivals in San Francisco.
Sean Manaea (9-6) outdueled Andrew Suarez (3-6) in a matchup of left-handers, helping the A's complete a 4-3, 6-2 weekend sweep after the Giants had prevailed 7-1 Friday night in the series opener.
The teams will meet in a three-game rematch immediately following the All-Star break in Oakland.
The Giants had won (10) or tied (two) their last 12 home series dating back to April 11 against Arizona. San Francisco took a 1-0 lead in the second inning on a double by Brandon Crawford and an RBI single by Gorkys Hernandez.
But the A's finally solved the rookie Suarez in the fourth when, after a Jed Lowrie walk and Mark Canha hit, Stephen Piscotty, Matt Olson and Matt Chapman stroked consecutive RBI singles that put Oakland up 3-1.
Jonathan Lucroy capped the four-run burst with a sacrifice fly.
Suarez was pulled after five innings, allowing four runs and four hits in five innings. He walked two and struck out five.
Piscotty drilled a solo home run, his 12th of the season, off Giants reliever Reyes Moronta in the sixth, increasing the Oakland advantage to 5-1.
The Giants got one back against Manaea in the last of the sixth to get within three when Chase d'Arnaud scraped the back of the center field fence with his second home run of the season.
Manaea was done after six innings, having limited the Giants to two runs and five hits. He walked one and struck out one.
A's relievers Ryan Buchter, Lou Trivino and Blake Treinen shut down the Giants over the final three innings, allowing just two baserunners, both on walks.
Piscotty had two hits, scored twice and drove in two runs for the A's, who completed an impressive 7-3 trip to Cleveland, Houston and San Francisco. Oakland enters the All-Star break with 21 win in its last 27 games.
Chapman added a single and a double for Oakland, which improved to 9-3 in interleague play.
Crawford and d'Arnaud collected two hits apiece for the Giants, who finished a 5-5 homestand against St. Louis, the Chicago Cubs and Oakland.
The A's out-hit the Giants 10-5.
--Field Level Media