Oakland – The San Francisco Giants traveled across the Bay Bridge for the final Bay Bridge Series before the Oakland Athletics move north to Sacramento next season. Unfortunately, the Giants forgot to bring their bats.
“They pitched well,” Giants manager Bob Melvin said. “We had some opportunities, but we didn’t come through. That was the difference in the game. Some days we play well, some days we don’t. But consistently, we haven’t been able to.”
The Giants were limited to three hits as A’s starter Osvaldo Nido carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning. San Francisco fell 2-0 in Oakland on Saturday afternoon.
The Giants’ three hits came from Grant McCray, who had a single with one out in the sixth inning, and Mike Yastrzemski, who added a single in the top of the seventh. McCray then tried to ignite a late rally with a double in the top of the eighth.
“He’s playing with a lot of confidence,” said Melvin. “His speed and defensive ability were impressive. He made a nice catch in center field. He’s fast and having good at-bats against pitchers he’s never faced before.”
McCray continued to impress, going 2-for-3 at the plate and making a diving catch in center field to end the fourth inning off a shallow fly ball from Miguel Andujar.
Hayden Birdsong took the mound for the Giants and, despite retiring six of his first seven batters, began to struggle in the fifth inning.
“It’s baseball,” Birdsong said. “As I always say, it’s a hard sport and you’re not going to win all the time, but I’m happy I put up some zeroes and gave us a chance.”
Melvin had hoped Birdsong would pitch a little longer than the 4⅔ innings he managed.
“It felt like a game where he might go six,” Melvin explained. “We ended up pulling him before the fifth because we didn’t want him facing (Brent) Rooker again. But I think he had better stuff today.”
Birdsong allowed one run on three hits, with five strikeouts and three walks in 4⅔ innings. It was his third consecutive start where he failed to go at least five innings since his five-shutout innings against the Colorado Rockies on July 27.
“I thought he was much better than his previous two starts,” said Melvin. “He did have three walks, but I thought the command was better.”
Birdsong led off the fifth inning by allowing back-to-back singles to Seth Brown and Zach Gelof. Lawrence Butler then hit a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Gelof from third for the game’s first run.
Oakland extended their lead in the sixth inning with an RBI single by Brown off San Francisco reliever Spencer Bivens, bringing home Andujar, who had doubled with one out in the inning.
The Giants made things interesting in the ninth inning against A’s closer Michel Otanez. After Otanez struck out Michael Conforto and Matt Chapman, Mark Canha reached on an infield single when Otanez failed to field a soft grounder down the third base line.
Catcher Patrick Bailey then drew a walk on a full count, putting Casey Schmitt at the plate as the potential go-ahead run. However, Otanez struck out Schmitt to end the game and earn his first save of the season.
The Giants will look to split the series in Oakland in Sunday’s finale, sending Blake Snell (2-3, 3.91 ERA) to the mound against Oakland’s JP Sears (10-8, 4.32 ERA).
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