“We haven’t played our best recently but all that’s made (about) the Bay Bridge rivalry, there’s a little more to it and the last thing you want to do is be swept,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “I’m not saying it was the most important game in the world but our guys came out with some fire. They were a little upset last night that we lost that game.”
On Saturday the A’s led in extra innings but couldn’t hold on and lost 6-5.
Things were much different on Sunday.
Oakland jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first then rode the pitching of Cole and two relievers to beat San Francisco.
Irvin fans 8, A s beat Giants to avoid 3-game sweep
Cole Irvin struck out eight in eight innings to remain unbeaten in five June starts, and the Oakland Athletics beat the San Francisco Giants 6-2 on Sunday.
The Canadian Press Cole Irvin , The Canadian Press
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) Cole Irvin struck out eight in eight innings to remain unbeaten in five June starts, and the Oakland Athletics beat the San Francisco Giants 6-2 on Sunday.
Matt Chapman had two hits and two RBIs. Aramís García added a pair of RBI singles to help the A’s avoid a three-game sweep by their Bay Area rivals.
The A’s averaged five runs per game on the first six dates of this road trip, and today it was enough for a win because both the rotation and bullpen also held strong.
ABC: Ace Bassitt, Chris
At this point,
Chris Bassitt has become a nearly guaranteed quality start every time he takes the mound. In his first 15 outings, nine met the definition of quality and four more just missed by a run or an inning. Ten times he’s allowed exactly two runs, and never more than four.
Today was even better than usual, as he cut that run total down to one. The Rangers couldn’t figure him out at all, as they only hit the ball hard twice against him in seven innings. His control wavered at times, with three walks and a HBP and some long counts along the way, but otherwise Texas had no answers against him.
Jed Lowrie homered and drove in two runs to lift the Oakland Athletics to a 5-1 victory over the Texas Rangers on Thursday afternoon in Arlington, Texas.