Nick Kurtz #16 of the Athletics hits a home run during the game between the San Francisco Giants and the Athletics at Sutter Health Park on Friday, May 15, 2026 in Sacramento, California. (Mandatory Photo Credit: Darren Yamashita/MLB Photos via Getty Images)

By Jeremiah Salmonson

WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Athletics were back in action on Friday night at Sutter Health Park to take on the San Francisco Giants at 6:40 p.m. PST.

The A’s were fresh off a series loss to the St. Louis Cardinals where they dropped two of the three games at home.

The Giants were coming off a split of a four-game series in Los Angeles against the Dodgers.

On Friday, A’s manager Mark Kotsay was away from the team attending his daughter’s graduation from college. In his absence, Darren Bush, the A’s bench coach, took over the managerial duties for the evening. The A’s defeated the Giants 5-2 in front of a sold-out crowd of 12,348 on Friday.

Aaron Civale got the start for the A’s in what was his ninth start of the year for the green and gold. Civale was pretty sharp overall in his outing as he went five innings of six-hit, two-run baseball. He left in line for the win and struck out two Giants hitters in his appearance that required 76 pitches.

“He did an outstanding job, made pitches all night,” Darren Bush said of Civale after the game. “They hit some balls hard, he didn’t back away from contact. He kept on going and he made the big pitch when he needed to.”

Civale came out of the game prematurely, or so it seemed to me. With just 76 pitches through five innings, it seemed he would return for the sixth. Yet, he did not and after the game spoke of his outing.

“Ideally I’d like to work longer into the game, but sometimes 76 pitches just feels like 100 and sometimes 100 feels like 50,” Civale told me after the game.

Overall, Civale was pretty happy with his outing.

“I thought I was pretty quick and efficient in the first three [innings],” Civale said in the clubhouse to the media. “I ran into some trouble in the fourth and fifth there, but was able to work through with minimal damage. Obviously the two homers are not ideal, but I felt like we were competing before and after that.”

The A’s bullpen pitched really well for the most part in the game.

Joel Kuhnel was first out of the pen for the A’s and pitched a scoreless sixth inning for the A’s while needing 14 pitches to do so. Kuhnel allowed one hit and struck out two batters in his inning of work.

Jose Suarez was next up for the A’s on the hill and tossed a scoreless seventh inning, albeit after getting into some trouble. Suarez gave up two hits, both singles, but managed to get out of it unscathed while throwing 21 pitches in his outing.

In the eighth inning, Darren Bush went with Luis Medina to protect the lead and he delivered with a scoreless inning, giving up just a walk and striking out one batter. Medina threw 19 pitches in the eighth inning.

In the ninth inning, Hogan Harris pitched a scoreless ninth inning to seal the win for the A’s. Harris tossed 14 pitches and gave up just one hit while striking out one in a stress-free inning.

On the offensive side of the ball, the A’s recorded 10 hits and walked once en route to their five runs.

Jeff McNeil got the A’s on the board in the first inning with a ringing RBI double down the right-field line that scored Zack Gelof. However, a nice relay from Jung Hoo Lee and Luis Arraez cut down Darrell Hernaiz at the plate to keep it a one-RBI play.

The A’s next scoring came in the bottom of the fifth inning at the hands of the red-hot first baseman for the A’s, Nick Kurtz. Kurtz, with runners on the corners and one out, sent a 108 MPH line drive over the left-center-field wall to give the A’s the 4-2 lead. It was Kurtz’s third home run in as many games and it traveled 417 feet.

Later in the fifth inning, the A’s would have runners on the corners again, this time with two outs. Henry Bolte lined a ball to left field for a single to score another run and pull the A’s ahead even further and make it a 5-2 game.

That would be all the offense the A’s needed as they defeated the Giants 5-2 thanks to solid pitching and timely hitting.

With the win, the now 23-21 A’s will take on the Giants in game two of their series on Saturday at 6:40 p.m. PST. Luis Severino (2-4, 4.07 ERA) is scheduled to start for the A’s as the Giants will counter with Trevor McDonald (1-0, 2.92 ERA).