San Francisco Giants center fielder Luis Matos makes a great grab in the webbing of his glove on Oakland A’s hitter Seth Brown at the Oakland Coliseum on Sat Aug 5, 2023 (AP News photo)

Saturday, Aug. 5, 2023

Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum

Oakland, California

San Francisco Giants 1 (61-50)

Oakland Athletics 2 (31-80)

Win: Trevor May (3-4)

Loss: Ryan Walker (4-1)

Time: 2:34

Attendance: 37,553

By Stephen Ruderman

OAKLAND–Fans packed into the Coliseum for the Giants and A’s first game in Oakland since the A’s announced their intent to move to Las Vegas, as Giants and A’s fans saw the A’s edge out the Giants 2-1 in the series opener on a cloudless afternoon at the Oakland Coliseum.

The Giants made solid contact off A’s starter, Paul Blackburn, in the top of first inning, as LaMonte Wade, whose home run accounted for the Giants’ lone run on Thursday, hit a high fly ball just foul down the right-field line before lining out to the A’s right-fielder Seth Brown.

Thairo Estrada, coming off the injured list and taking his first at-bat since July 2, also lined out to right. Wilmer Flores then singled to left, but that was all the Giants were able to show for it.

The Giants were gifted an opportunity in the top of the second when J.D. Davis reached on catcher’s interference to start the inning and got to second on a one-out walk to Patrick Bailey, but they were unable to get the hit to knock in Davis.

Ross Stripling, whose last outing came on July 30 in a bullpen game against the Red Sox, made the start, and he did not disappoint. Esteury Ruiz led off the bottom of the first with a single to left, but Stripling then set down the next 12 men he faced.

The Giants had runners reach in the third, fourth and fifth innings as well, but they had nothing to show for it. Just like in the Giants’ 1-0 win over the Diamondbacks on Thursday, their offense remained neutralized throughout the game.

Jordan Diaz then led off the bottom of the fifth with a home run to left-center to put the A’s on the board. Blackburn followed that up with his first and only 1-2-3 inning in the top of the sixth, and Stripling and Sean Manaea combined to throw a 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the sixth.

The A’s brought in Austin Pruitt for the top of the seventh. Patrick Bailey led off the inning with a walk, which brought Brandon Crawford to the plate. Crawford hit a fly ball to left that seemed like it was going to fall in, but A’s left-fielder, JJ Bleday, made a sliding catch, and then got up to throw a strike to double up Bailey off first.

Manaea threw a scoreless bottom of the seventh, and Angel Felipe came in for the A’s in the eighth. LaMonte Wade struck out looking to start the inning, but Thairo Estrada then walked, and got to third on a base-hit by Wilmer Flores.

The Giants had runners at the corners with one out for Joc Pederson, as the A’s brought in their closer, Trevor May, to go for a five-out save, and Pederson hit a sacrifice fly to Esteury Ruiz to put the Giants on the board and tie the game.

It was 1-1 going to the bottom of the eighth, as Gabe Kapler brought in Ryan Walker. Mark Kotsay pinch-hit Aledmys Diaz for Tyler Soderstrom, and Diaz led off the inning with a base-hit up the middle. Tony Kemp walked to put runners at first and second for the A’s with nobody out, and Ruiz then bunted a foul ball off the home plate umpire, Dan Merzel, who went down, but remained in the game.

To add insult to injury, Kotsay challenged the play to see if the ball hit Ruiz, and after the call was upheld, Kotsay went out to argue with the third-base umpire and crew chief, Lance Barksdale, who surprisingly did not throw Kotsay out of the game. Ruiz was then able to successfully bunt the runners over to second and third.

Kapler then brought in the left-hander, Scott Alexander. Kotsay countered by pinch-hitting Jonah Bride, who lined out to Thairo Estrada at second for the second out.

Kapler elected to intentionally walk Zack Gelof to load the bases for Seth Brown, who singled to right to knock in Diaz and put the A’s back ahead. Kemp also tried to score on the play, but he was thrown out at the plate on a perfect strike from Michael Conforto to end the inning. Kemp tried to barrel past Patrick Bailey, but he was tagged out.

Trevor May came back out for the top of the ninth, and threw a 1-2-3 inning, as he got Brandon Crawford to ground out to second to end the game.

The Giants fall to 61-50, and they will try and salvage a split tomorrow afternoon with Alex Cobb on the mound.

Meanwhile in the stands, Giants and A’s fans stood in unison, and chanted “SELL THE TEAM,” following 30 seconds of silence to start the top of the fifth. Despite the fifth inning chants not being as loud as chants in prior games, they chanted even louder during the replay review in the bottom of the eighth, as fans continued to make it clear that the A’s belong in Oakland.

Starters for Sunday for the Giants right hander Alex Cobb (6-3 ERA 3.05) and for the A’s right hander Luis Medina (3-8 ERA 5.35) first pitch is slated at 1:07pm PT at the Oakland Coliseum.