Field Level Media
Jul 22, 2018
Jonathan Lucroy drove in Matt Chapman with a two-out, walk-off single in the 11th inning Saturday night, allowing the Oakland Athletics to overcome a rare blown save by closer Blake Treinen to defeat the San Francisco Giants 4-3 in Oakland, Calif.
The win was Oakland's third in five consecutive games against the Giants, clinching no worse than a tie in the annual Bay Bridge Series that concludes Sunday.
After having blown a 3-2 lead with two outs in the ninth, the A's strung together three consecutive singles with two outs off the Giants' seventh pitcher, left-hander Will Smith (0-1), in the 11th.
Chapman got the uprising going with a two-strike single up the middle, after which Chad Pinder lashed a first-pitch hit to left field, putting the potential winning run in scoring position.
Lucroy, a late-game defensive replacement, then came through against his former Milwaukee Brewers batterymate with a two-strike liner to right field to end it.
Yusmeiro Petit (5-2), the fifth Oakland pitcher, worked a scoreless top of the 11th to get the win.
The Giants were down to their last strike before improbably rallying into a 3-3 tie in the top of the ninth inning.
Treinen struck out Alen Hanson for what appeared to be the final out of the game, but the pitch in the dirt got away from A's catcher Josh Phegley, allowing Hanson to reach base.
Hunter Pence then laced a double down the right field line, scoring Hanson all the way from first as A's right fielder Stephen Piscotty crashed through a folding chair nearby Giants reliever Mark Melancon before throwing wildly to the plate.
The blown save was Treinen's fourth of the season.
Earlier, the A's took advantage of Madison Bumgarner's wildness to score three times with the aid of just one hit in the fifth inning. Oakland trailed 1-0 before a four-pitch walk to Matt Olson, a single by Chapman and three straight, full-count walks to Pinder, Phegley and Marcus Semien forced in two runs and gave the A's the 2-1 lead.
Reliever Sam Dyson came on to get Mark Canha to ground into a double play, scoring a third run, before issuing the inning's fifth walk to Jed Lowrie. Dyson avoided further damage by getting Khris Davis to ground out to end the inning.
Bumgarner was charged with three runs allowed on two hits and six walks in four-plus innings. He struck out five.
A's starter Trevor Cahill worked the first 5 2/3 innings in a no-decision, holding the Giants to one run on two hits. He walked three and struck out five.
San Francisco got within 3-2 in the seventh against the Oakland bullpen when Buster Posey and Hanson singled off Ryan Buchter, before Pence delivered an RBI single against Lou Trivino. But Trivino struck out Gorkys Hernandez and got Steven Duggar to ground out, stranding the potential tying run at third base.
The Giants' first run of the game came courtesy of Brandon Belt's 14th home run of the season, a solo shot off Cahill after the right-hander had taken a no-hitter one out into the fourth inning.
Chapman had three hits and scored two runs, while Semien walked three times for the A's, who won for the eighth time in their last 11 games.
Pence had three hits and two RBIs for the Giants, who were out-hit 7-6 by the A's.
--Field Level Media