The Oakland A’s Jack Lamb (4) does the forearm bash with teammate Stephen Piscotty (25) after hitting a two run homer in the seventh inning. The San Francisco Giants Joey Bart is to the left (AP News photo)

By Barbara Mason

Saturday afternoon the Oakland A’s and the San Francisco Giants were back on the field for Game Two of their series. Last night the A’s handed the Giants a 6-0 loss earning Oakland an assured playoff berth.

Starting pitchers were Jesus Luzardo for Oakland and Kevin Gausman for San Francisco. Both pitchers had a nice start with Luzardo and Gausman with six up and six down through the first two innings.

The great outing continued through the third inning for both pitchers. Luzardo had allowed only one hit and Gausman had not allowed a single hit. Three up and three down seemed to be the theme for the two pitchers; the third inning running with that theme.

Luzardo allowed 3 hits in the fourth but got out of the inning when Solano’s attempt to advance failed with a forced out at third. San Francisco had a chance to load the bases with Evan Longoria and Mauricio Dubon on first and second but Solano’s forced out took a great opportunity away from San Francisco.

The bottom of the fourth was the breakthrough for Oakland when Mark Canha walked and Matt Olson singled to center bringing Canha home for a 1-0 lead for the A’s.

Luzardo allowed one hit in the fifth inning and the pitchers dual continued in this great defensive match up. The A’s went three up and three down in the fifth inning. It was a swift sixth inning for both teams. The Giants had one hit off the bat of Solano who was having a productive game. Oakland had a walk in the sixth inning but was not able to get much going offensively. Luzardo would finish the game allowing five hits and seven strikeouts.

In the top of the seventh inning, Jake Diekman would go to work having a productive three up three down inning and the A’s pitchers were rolling. Giant’s pitcher Sam Selman would take the mound in the bottom of the seventh.

It proved to be a very short appearance by the pitcher allowing a Stephen Piscotty single followed by a Tommy La Stella home run. Oakland now led by the score of 3-0. Robbie Grossman walked and that was it for Selman as a pitching change for San Francisco brought in Sam Coonrod.

Conrad did not fare much better allowing a single by Ramon Laureano followed a single by Jonah Heim. La Stella would triple and Laureano and Heim would score. The A’s had busted this game wide open. They finished the inning with another run in when Semien hit a double scoring La Stella. The A’s had a comfortable lead going into the eighth inning 6-0.

Joakim Soria got the job done pitching a three up three down top of the eighth. San Francisco put Jarlin Garcia on the mount to face Olson, Piscotty and Jake Lamb in the bottom of the eighth. It was a good inning for Garcia. The Giants were three outs away however from a second shutout loss.

Lou Trevino came in to close out this one for Oakland Flores grounded into a double play and Longoria flied out to left and Oakland would have their second shut out in as many days 6-0.

The A’s are coming together at the perfect time. The pitching has really come to life going deeper into the game and keeping the bullpen fresh something you really want to see with the postseason looming. The offense is getting the job done as well.

‘Guys are playing loose, they are playing great,” said Bob Melvin after the game. “They know what’s at stake. All-around great game just like last night,” he said.