Oakland Athletics’ Mark Canha (20) runs the bases after hitting a three run homerun off San Francisco Giants’ Trevor Gott in the ninth inning of a baseball game Saturday, Aug. 15, 2020, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

By Barbara Mason

We are just barely catching our breaths after last night’s thrilling come from behind extra inning win by Oakland when the team was back at it in game two of the Battle of the Bay Series.

There was not much rest for either team, however, the tenth inning was quickly played giving both teams a bit of a rest this morning. Last night’s game was a thriller, one that doesn’t come around everyday. Trailing by as much as six runs, the A’s tied up the game in the ninth inning off a grand slam by Stephen Piscotti. The final score was 8-7 in favor of Oakland.

Saturday afternoon the team was looking for another win in the absence of Ramon Laureano who has been suspended for four games because of the fracas last Monday. It is a tough loss for Oakland but the team has players that are more than capable of filling the position vacated by Laureano. He will be back on the field Tuesday afternoon against Arizona.

Starting pitcher Sean Manea is hoping to get back on track. It’s been a bit of a struggle for Manea who has admitted that he has had some pretty bad outings. He has started out strong in a number of games and seems to just fall apart after 3 or 4 innings. He did it against the Angels and the Mariners as well. The Giants would have Kevin Gausman on the mound to start the game.

After two uneventful innings Marcus Semien hit his first home-run of the season and with Machin already on base the A’s had a 2-0 lead in the third inning. Vimael Machin had his first hit as an A coming to the club from the Phillies.

In the bottom of the fourth the Giants would put two on base with no outs and the dangerous Yastrzemski would come to bat. He verified just how dangerous he is, hitting a deep ball which was mishandled by Piscotti allowing three runs to score. Just like that the Giants had taken the lead 3-2. Manea had begun to crumble. He was able to get out of the inning without further damage.

It was a nice one, two and three outs inning for Manea in the bottom of the fifth. This was a milestone for him going five innings. He stumbled in the fourth inning but closed the fifth out nicely which is very good news for the A’s.

In the top of the 6th inning Matt Olson would hit a homer to tie the game at 3. Burch Smith would take over on the mount for the A’s in the bottom of the sixth inning. It was a first, second and third innings for Smith who has been very good for Oakland and it was on to the 7th inning.

Tyler Roberts would take the mound for San Francisco in the seventh. Roberts dismissed the A’s and Burch Smith would be facing Longoria who doubled to deep left followed by Flores who singled to deep right and the Giants had runners on the corners with one out. Darren Ruf would hit a home run, his first, bringing in three runs and a 6-3 lead for San Francisco. That would be it for Smith with Lou Trevino taking over with 2 outs. Trevino would finish off the inning with no additional damage.

Mark Canha would hit a leadoff double to start the eighth inning just missing a home run. The A’s couldn’t get anything else going and the Giants would bring Solano, Yastrzemski and Longoria to start the bottom of the eighth inning. The Giants as well couldn’t get anything going and the A’s would have one last shot. Would there be another miracle in the 9th inning for Oakland?

Sean Murphy would start the ninth inning with a home run and the score was now 6-4 in favor of the Giants. Kemp would hit a double to keep Oakland’s hopes alive. With 2 outs and Kemp on third base, Matt Olson was the last hope for the A’s. An intentional walk would put Olson on 1st base with Marc Canha at bat. Canha would hit a homer to give the A’s another ninth inning comeback now leading 7-6.

The A’s hopes now rode on closer extraordinaire Liam Hendriks who would face Pence, Crawford and Dickerson. Oakland would dispose of Pence and Crawford. Dickerson would walk and the tying run was on base. Dubon would pop fly out and another miracle for the Oakland A’s winning the last 12 of their 14 games. And it was good night yet one more time for the San Francisco Giants.