Oakland A’s Josh Harrison gets a key two run single in the fourth inning against the visiting San Francisco Giants at the Oakland Coliseum Fri Aug 20, 2021 (AP News photo)

By Jeremy Kahn

OAKLAND-Josh Harrison came up with the biggest hit of the night for the Oakland As and it stood up.

Harrison knocked a one out two-run single up the middle off of Alex Wood in the bottom of the fourth inning, helping the A’s to a 4-1 victory over the San Francisco Giants in the opener of the Bay Bridge Series before a crowd of 40,133 at the Coliseum.

With the loss, the Giants lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers drops to 1.5 games in the National League West, after they defeated the New York Mets 3-2 at Dodger Stadium.

Jed Lowrie walked to lead off the inning for the As, and then Yan Gomes doubled over the head of Kris Bryant. Harrison then singled up the middle, and pumped his fist as he ran down the baseline and eventually went to second on the Mike Yastrzemski throw to the plate.

Those two runs were enough for James Kaprielian, who went five innings, allowing just one run on three hits, walking four and striking out four and raised his record up to 7-4 on the season.

The one mistake by Kaprielian came in the top of the fifth inning, when Yastrzemski hit his 18th home run of the season to cut the As lead in half.

Yastrzemskis home run off of Kaprielian in the top of the fifth inning was his first ever at the Coliseum, and first by a member of his family since his grandfather Carl hit one on July 27, 1983 off of Keith Atherton (according to RETROSHEET). That was the last season for the then 44-year old Carl, who played all 23 years for the Boston Red Sox, which included a Triple Crown in 1967, that helped the Red Sox to the World Series, where they lose to the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games.

Alex Wood also pitched five innings for the Giants, as he gave two runs on five hits, walking two and striking out nine.

This was the first time this season that the Giants lost a game where Wood took the mound after a loss. Prior to the loss, the Giants were 11-0 as a team and Wood was 9-0 in those games.

The As got some insurance runs in the bottom of the seventh inning, when Starling Marte doubled down the right field line to score Mark Canha, who reached on a groundout that saw Chad Pinder get forced out at second base for the second out of the inning.

Marte then stole third base, and on the attempted throw by Jose Alvarez went passed Wilmer Flores down the left field line that Marte to score.

Not only was Marte huge on the bases, but his glove played a big part in the game as well. Marte robbed Flores of what would have been extra bases and two runs, when he made a running catch for the final out of the second inning.

After Kaprielian was able to get the first batters of the inning, Brandon Crawford and Alex Dickerson each singled to bring up Flores, whose long fly ball was caught by Marte on the warning track to retire the side.

Kaprielian got the first two outs of the third inning, but then walked the next three batters; however, he was able to get out of the jam, went Kris Bryant flew out to Marte to end the inning.

Lou Trivino gave up one hit to in the ninth inning to Dickerson, but was able to get Flores to ground into a force play to end the game and Trivino notched his 21st save for the victorious As, who remain three games behind the Houston Astros in the American League West and are percentage points ahead of the Boston Red Sox in the second Wild Card spot and one game behind the New York Yankees for the top Wild Card Spot.

NOTES: The combined winning percentage between the Giants (78-44) and A’s (70-53) is on pace to be one of the best by a metro area with multiple teams in the expansion era according to Stats, LLC.

The Giants have had the best record in the National League for the past 96 days, the most days in the lead since they moved to San Francisco in 1958 and the second best in team history, trailing the 1954 team, who were in the lead for 104 days. Also during this stretch, the Giants have led the NL West for 103 days this season and is the second best in the major leagues, trailing the Chicago White Sox for 105 days.
With one more home run on the evening, the Giants now have 182 home runs on the season and trail the Toronto Blue Jays, as they have hit 184 home runs on the season.

UP NEXT: Kevin Gausman takes the mound on Saturday afternoon, as he looks for his 13th win of the season, while Sean Manaea will take the hill for the As, as he looks for his ninth win of the season.