© Kiel Maddox | USA Today
OAKLAND – For two straight days, the Oakland A’s have packed their stadium to capacity for extra-inning games. And for the second straight day, Bay Area fans watched as the Giants fell just short of stealing a game.
In the bottom of the 10th inning, Giants long reliever Ty Blach – who entered the game with a 4.48 ERA – took the mound. Third baseman Matt Olson hit a high bouncing ball toward shortstop Brandon Crawford and as Crawford charged to catch the ball in the air, it bounced off his foot and into center field, scoring shortstop Marcus Semien from second base to give the A’s a 6-5 win.
While he allowed three home runs, Giants starter Johnny Cueto managed to last seven innings. Aside from the home runs, it was the type of outing manager Bruce Bochy had hoped for prior to the game.
“I think he’s made quite a bit of progress,” Bochy said. “And that’s what we’re hoping continues. Just keep improving, making progress with the command and stuff and the length that he can give us. So hopefully that will happen today. I think it’s fair to say both bullpens got used quite a bit last night, so we’re hoping that we’ll get a quality start out of him.”
A’s starter Sean Manaea had a much more clinical game. He left the sold-out Oakland Coliseum crowd of 44,374 people – the A’s third straight and only sell-out games of the season – to a rapturous home applause after throwing 6 2/3 innings of two-run, four-hit, five strikeout baseball. It was not until the fifth inning, when Giants catcher Nick Hundley singled to center field, that Manaea allowed a hit.
Manaea’s effort was not rewarded with what would have been his 10th win of the season, however, as the Giants eviscerated the A’s relievers who took his place on the mound.
The top of the seventh inning became a half-inning of important switches from both the A’s and the Giants.
Manaea was replaced by Emilio Pagan, who inherited Hundley at first base. Three batters later, after the Giants rattled off a triplet of two-out hits, the game was tied at four.
Pagan allowed an Austin Slater single to put baserunners at the corners, and the A’s immediately pulled him for Lou Trivino.
Then the Giants made the first of three switches in the inning. First, Pablo Sandoval, who went 0-for-5 Saturday night, stepped to the plate as a pinch hitter. On a first-pitch cutter, Sandoval ripped a double to deep right field, scoring Hundley and Slater.
Sandoval was immediately replaced at second by a pinch-running Steven Duggar, and second baseman Kelby Tomlinson was subbed out for Alen Hanson.
With his first at-bat of the game, Hanson hit a single to center field, scoring Duggar to tie the game.
In the eighth inning, the Giants and A’s negated each other’s offense with a pair of solo home runs. Andrew McCutchen, who reached base in 11 of his 27 plate appearances in the series, hit a home run to deep left field.
A’s designated hitter Khris Davis followed suit in the bottom half of the inning, hitting a game-tying home run to right field.
In the ninth and 10th innings, Bay Area fans got their first taste of newly-acquired A’s reliever Jeurys Familia. Familia was acquired in a trade in which the A’s sent two prospects and $1,000,000 in international bonus money to the Mets.
Familia opened the ninth inning by allowing a leadoff single to Austin Slater, but immediately regained control of the inning, striking out Duggar and forcing a 6-4-3 double play to the end the inning. In the 10th, he shut down the top of the Giants order with three straight fly ball outs to record the win.
The A’s win secures the ownership of the first-ever “The Bridge” trophy, a commemorative trophy introduced this year to be given annually to the winner of the Bay Bridge Series.