The Oakland A’s and San Francisco Giants added a unique twist to interleague play this week, with a four game series that was evenly split between the Oakland Coliseum and AT&T Park.  The A’s took the first two games at the Coliseum, while the teams split the pair at AT&T Park.  Oakland’s record is now 58-34 on the season, which is good enough for the best record in MLB. The A’s are also the only club currently winning above a .600 clip.

Here is a brief recap of the Bay Area series:

Game 1 final score: Athletics 5, Giants 0

SP Jesse Chavez dominated the Giants lineup for 6 innings, allowing just 4 hits and 0 ER’s, while striking out 9 batters to help the A’s jump out to a convincing victory to open the Bay Area rivalry.  The A’s bullpen did the rest, allowing just 1 hit in 3 IP’s.  

The A’s lineup was held in check until the 5th inning when they started to breakthrough against Giants SP Ryan Vogelsong.  John Jaso hit a sacrifice ground out to get the A’s on the scoreboard.  In the bottom of the 6th inning, Alberto Callaspo doubled to drive in two more runs for the A’s, who tacked on two additional insurance runs in the bottom of the 7th to put the Giants away.  

Said Chavez after the game, “We all like to feed off each other.  We’re just playing good baseball.”

Game 2 final score: Athletics 6, Giants 1

Rinse, repeat from Monday to Tuesday’s action, as it was Sonny Gray’s turn on the mound.  Gray was equally brilliant going 7 innings, striking out 8, while spacing out 6 hits and 1 ER.  The A’s bullpen once again did their part, shutting down the Giants in the 8th and 9th innings for the victory.  

The A’s put up four runs in the bottom of the 3rd inning and that was all they would have needed.  Nick Punto doubled home Jed Lowrie and the top of the A’s lineup took it from there with RBI hits from Coco Crisp, Yoenis Cespedes, and Derek Norris.  Tyler Colvin hit a solo home run for the Giants in the top of the 7th to close the gap, but the A’s responded in the 8th with two insurance runs to help seal the fate of the two game, home sweep for Oakland.  

Game 3 final score: Giants 5, Athletics 2

The other half of the A’s major acquisition with the Cubs last week took the mound for the first time in green and gold.  SP Jason Hammel struggled through 5 innings of work, giving up 6 hits and 3 runs (2 ER) on 99 pitches.  Hammel didn’t have a clean, 1-2-3 inning in his five innings pitched.  While he got himself out of trouble, the one run scored by the Giants in each of the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th innings was enough for a Giants’ victory.  

Stephen Vogt continued his hot hitting for the Athletics, while Jed Lowrie looks to be coming out of his slump, as both players had two hits and one RBI for the A’s.  However, the offense struggled to breakthrough against SP Matt Cain and couldn’t muster a single hit against the Giants bullpen on Wednesday night.  

Game 4 final score: Athletics 6, Giants 1

Game 4 reverted back to the results seen in Oakland Monday and Tuesday night, with the A’s SP, Scott Kazmir, going 7 inning strong with 9 strikeouts and not allowing a run.  While RP Dan Otero pitched himself in and out of trouble in the 8th inning, Fernando Abad came in to close out the 9th inning to give the A’s the series victory.  

The A’s came up with timely hitting from Alberto Callaspo and Stephen Vogt, with the highlight reel filled in by Josh Donaldson’s two run, home run in the 6th inning.  The A’s lineup roughed up ex-Athletic, Tim Hudson, as he gave up 9 hits over 5.1 IP and was charged with all 6 runs the A’s scored.

What’s Next?

The A’s head up the Pacific coastline for a three game series against the Seattle Mariners before hitting the All-Star break.  The expected pitching match-ups have not changed from this week’s Weekly Preview, highlighted by Friday’s pitching match-up between the A’s Jeff Samardzija and the Mariners’ (King) Felix Hernandez.

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About the author
John Flesta
Displaced Oakland A's, Seattle Seahawks, and Minnesota Timberwolves fan in New Jersey.