by Jerry Feitelberg

The Oakland A’s beat the San Francisco Giants again Wednesday night in Oakland. The Final score was 7-1 and the A’s have scored twenty-eight runs in three games and Giants must be perplexed at what has happened in the last three days. The A’s Sean Manaea, in his first start since coming off the DL, pitched very well. Manaea went five and two-thirds innings and allowed just six hits and no runs. He threw just Eighty-three pitches, but since he hadn’t pitched in a while, A’s manager Bob Melvin decided to take him out of the game. With the win, Manaea’s now own a record of three wins against four losses, and his ERA dropped from 6.02 to 5.40. Jake Peavy lost his seventh game of the year, and his record is 4-7.

With one out in the bottom of the third, Marcus Semien hit a high fly to short right field that normally would be an out. However, Second baseman Ramiro Pena collided with right fielder Mac Williamson, and the ball dropped for an error as Semien made it to third safely. A’s center fielder Bily Burns laid down a beautiful bunt, and he almost made it to first safely. The play was ruled a sacrifice 3-4 and Burns earned an RBI as Alonso scored from third on the play. Coco Crisp kept the rally going when he tripled to left field. Jed Lowrie followed with a home run to right to give the A’s a 3-0 lead. The Giants’ right fielder made a valiant effort to catch the ball but the ball hit in the webbing of his glove but he collided with the wall and h was unable to finish the catch as the ball bounced over the fence. All three runs scored by the A’s were unearned.

The Giants missed a golden opportunity to get on the board in the fourth. With one out, Buster  Posey, Brandon Crawford, and Trevor Brown all singled to load the bases. Mac Williamson worked the count to 3-2 and when Manaea threw a changeup. Williamson hit a long fly that just missed being a Grand Slam. The A’s fans breathed a sigh of relief. Williamson then hit into a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning. In the bottom of the fourth, The A’s scored four more in their half of the inning and sent Peavy to an early shower. Peavy retired the first batter he faced in the fourth, but he could not retire another hitter. He walked Billy Butler. Yonder Alonso hit his second home run of the year on the very first pitch from Peavy. It was a monster blast that landed about ten or fifteen rows in the right field seats. Marcus Semien reached on another three-base error and scored on a double by Billy Burns. Coco singled to drive in Burns and end the night for Peavy. Peavy’s went just three and one-third innings, and he allowed seven runs on five hits. Four of the runs were unearned but as Bob Melvin said the other night” they all count.”  Peavy also gave up two two-run dingers. The A’s are enjoying a 7-0 lead after four complete.

The Giants put a run on the board in the eighth. Bob Melvin brought in the beleaguered John Axford to pitch. Axford has been shaky in his last three or four appearances. He retired the first batter to start the inning. He walked Brandon Belt and gave up a single to Buster Posey to put men on at first and second. Axford then uncorked a wild pitch to advance the runners. Was Axford about ready to implode? No, as he retired Brandon Crawford on a sacrifice fly to center and then struck out Trevor Brown to end the inning. Ryan Dull retired the Giants 1-2-3 to close out the game.

Game Notes- The A’s will be going for the sweep Thursday night. Young Dillon Overton will be making his second start for Oakland, and the Giants’ ace, Madison Bumgarner will pitch for San Francisco. The Giants announced that they would not be using the DH Thursday as Bumgarner will be hitting for himself. First time since 1976 that a team will relinquish the DH in favor of a pitcher hitting for himself. The A’s are now eight games under .500 and have a record of 35-43. The Giants drop to 49-31 but are still in first place in the NLWest and lead the Dodgers by six games.

There is an adage in baseball that ” you never know what you will see at a game tonight.” That was so Wednesday night as Marcus Semien reached third on two three-base errors in the same game. The A’s have won three in a row and six of their last seven games.  Coco Crisp had two hits and now owns a seven-game hitting streak. Khris Davis was a late scratch due to a left shoulder contusion. The Giants have lost three in a row and are 5-6 in interleague play this season.

Time of game was two hours and forty-four minutes, and a crowd of 32,810 watched the A’s trounce the Giants again. Game Four will be Thursday night at the Oakland Coliseum, and the game will start at 7:05 PM.