© Stan Szeto-USA TODAY Sports
SAN FRANCISCO — The time has finally come. Spring training is officially over as the San Francisco Giants closed out their exhibition series with the Oakland Athletics on Tuesday, falling 4-2.
Monday night’s game was played in its entirety despite the rain, but that would not be the case Tuesday night. The final exhibition game was called due to rain, lasting just six innings. The Giants sent Jeff Samardzija to the hill against Oakland righty Aaron Brooks. A quiet first inning for both teams led straight into a busy top of the second for Samardzija.
A leadoff walk to Jurickson Profar was followed by a Marcus Semien single to left. Still, with nobody out, Mark Canha lined a double to left-center, scoring Profar. With one out, former Giant, Nick Hundley lined a sacrifice fly to left field, extending the A’s lead to 2-0.
Following the A’s rally in the second, both teams were held scoreless until the top of the fourth, when the A’s tacked on another run. Profar led off the inning with a triple, then two batters later, Canha extended the A’s lead to 4-0 with a two-run homer.
Samardzija has been the Giants’ best starting pitcher this spring, but Tuesday, that was not the case. Going three and two-thirds innings, he finished the spring with 22.2 IP, 22 H, 10 ER, 6 BB, and 17K’s.
Following Samardzija’s early departure, Drew Pomeranz entered the game for one final tune-up before his first start of the season. Striking out the side in the fifth inning, Pomeranz would follow up with two strikeouts in the sixth.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Giants rallied to load the bases. A Connor Joe single, followed by an Alen Hanson walk and a Mac Williamson hit-by-pitch, Gerardo Parra put the Giants on the board with a two-run single to cut the deficit in half.
The Giants offense has gone down very quietly in this pre-season series against Oakland. Tonight the Giants managed only two runs on six hits through six innings to close out the pre-season.
Tomorrow the Giants will fly to San Diego for the teams’ season-opening series against the San Diego Padres. Madison Bumgarner will take the mound for the 1:10 PM Opening Day matchup on Thursday.
