© July 13, 2018 / Chris Mezzavila
In the first game of this season’s six-game Bay Bridge Series, the Giants can thank their pitching staff, an opposing balk, but most of all, Steven Duggar for a 7-1 win. In just his fourth game and third in the leadoff spot, the 24-year-old center fielder was involved in five of the Giants’ seven runs.
First, Duggar legged out a double in the top of the fourth inning and later found himself at third base with two outs. With a 3-2 count, A’s starting pitcher Edwin Jackson went into his windup, planted his foot and spun wildly off the mound with the ball still in his hand for a rare balk. Duggar jogged home to give the Giants a 1-0 lead.
The A’s responded in the top half of the fifth inning, as left fielder Chad Pinder took Madison Bumgarner deep to left-center field to tie the game at one run apiece. But in the bottom of the sixth inning, Duggar reached base and scored again from a Buster Posey single, giving the Giants a 2-1 lead.
In the top of the seventh inning, the A’s looked primed to respond, as Bumgarner started to unravel. Giants manager Bruce Bochy pulled his ace after he allowed a leadoff single and a pair of walks. His one-run performance looked to be in jeopardy as he walked off the mound with a bases-loaded, no-out situation.
But Giants reliever Reyes Moronta and third baseman Pablo Sandoval came to Bumgarner’s rescue, as Moronta struck out his first batter and Sandoval made a near unassisted double play on a diving catch. Moronta forced out a groundout to the next batter, allowing the Giants and Bumgarner to exit the inning unscathed.
Jackson was relieved in the bottom of the seventh, something that was viewed as a strength of the A’s. Bochy commended the A’s relief pitching prior to the game as part of the reason for the team’s prolific run of 13 of 16 wins prior to the game.
“There’s nobody playing better than Oakland right now,” Bochy said. “They’re clicking everywhere. They’ve been throwing the ball well, great comebacks, they’re scoring runs, they’re winning games they’re supposed to. The bullpen really has done a great job – their bullpen in general.”
Unfortunately for Oakland, their bullpen fell apart. After Jackson was relieved, the A’s used three relief pitchers in the seventh inning. A’s reliever Ryan Dull allowed a pair of singles, a walk, and recorded zero outs before Jeremy Bleich relieved him. As Bleich took his place on the mound, Duggar took his place in the batters’ box, where he’d looked comfortable all night.
With an 0-2 count, Duggar ripped his second double of the night into right field, driving in two runs. Two batters and one more pitching change later, Duggar found himself at third base. The A’s’ third reliever of the inning, Santiago Castilla, sent a wild pitch over the head of catcher Stephen Piscotty, and Duggar scampered home to balloon the score to 6-1.
Two batters later, Buster Posey followed up with his second RBI single of the day, and Giants’ reliever Sam Dyson shut out the A’s in the final two innings.
For the first time, the series winner will be rewarded with a commemorative The Bridge trophy, but the real prize, according to Giants’ manager Bruce Bochy, is remaining competitive in the chase for a playoff spot. While both teams finished in last place in their respective divisions last season, they both entered the game with very real playoff hopes.
The Giants had won three of their last four games and sat just three games back of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West, while the A’s won 13 of their last 16 games and sat five games back in the AL Wild Card race. Bochy was less interested in the trophy as he was improving the team’s playoff standings.
“Well, not so much a trophy, but the fact that you have two teams that are trying to get to the postseason and they’re playing really well,” Bochy said prior to the game. “I’m sure they really feel good about where they’re at and trying to get to the postseason. And that’s what we’re trying to do. So you have two teams that are trying to accomplish the same thing, that are playing very important games right now.”
