San Francisco Giants Mark Canha cracks his belt against the Oakland A’s in the top of the sixth inning at the Oakland Coliseum on Sun Aug 18, 2024 in the final Bay Bridge Series game (AP News photo)
Sunday, Aug. 18, 2024
Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum
Oakland, California
San Francisco Giants 4 (63-63)
Oakland Athletics 2 (53-71)
Win: Ryan Walker (8-3)
Loss: Danny Jimenez (1-3)
Time: 2:42
Attendance: 32,727
By Stephen Ruderman
OAKLAND–The Giants’ home run-happy offense was not able to get Blake Snell, who made another strong start, a win, but they were able to pull off a 4-2 win in 10 innings at the Oakland Coliseum to win a thrilling and emotional most-likely final-ever game of the Bay Bridge Series on Sunday.
Sunday was set to be the final ever game of the Bay Bridge Series. The two Bay Area rivals with so much history would play this final game on a perfectly-sunny but sad afternoon at the Oakland Coliseum.
I have said words like “most likely” and “set,” because while it seems the A’s are leaving Oakland at the end of the season, this thing has been such an epic embarrassment that you never know what will happen.
Right now, the plan is for the A’s to move to Las Vegas with the three-year pitstop in Sacramento. However, with the fact that John Fisher has still yet to show that he has the dough to cover his part of the new stadium, as well as the fact that there will need to be serious conversations about playing on artificial turf in the heat of Sacramento, anything could happen.
The Giants came in four games back of the Braves for the third wild card spot in the National League. The A’s were once again looking to play spoilers after they shut out the Giants 2-0 in the series opener yesterday. The Giants were also looking to avoid getting swept in Oakland for the second year in a row.
Left-hander JP Sears made the start for Oakland, and he got the day started with a one, two, three inning in the top of the first. Blake Snell, coming off a strong 11-strikeout performance in his start against the Braves last Monday, took the ball for the Giants. Snell, too, started his day with a one, two, three inning in the bottom of the first.
Sears then threw three-straight scoreless innings. Funny thing is that Sears faced the minimum in all three, but none of them were one, two, three innings.
Snell threw another one, two, three inning in the bottom of the second, and he retired the first eight men he faced overall. Max Schuemann lined a base-hit to left-center field for the A’s first hit with two outs in the bottom of the third, but Daz Cameron struck out swinging to end the inning. Snell also gave up a two-out base-hit in a scoreless bottom of the fourth.
The Giants finally got something going against Sears in the top of the fifth, as Matt Chapman and Jerar Encarnacion both got seeing-eye base-hits to put runners on the corners with one out. However, this was the Giants, so the question was how they would waste this one.
Well, let me tell you. Casey Schmitt laid down a bunt, and when he bunted in the error in foul territory right behind him, A’s catcher Shea Langeliers raced to make an incredible sliding catch. Patrick Bailey then flew out to center, and of course the Giants’ snakebit offense wasted this golden opportunity.
Snell threw a one, two, three inning in the bottom of the fifth, and then Sears threw another non one, two, three inning where he faced the minimum in the top of the sixth.
The A’s had their rally of the day against Snell in the bottom of the sixth. Daz Cameron and Brent Rooker both singled to put runners at first and second with one out, and JJ Bleday grounded into a fielder’s choice to move Cameron over to third.
That brought up Miguel Andujar, who took a high fastball from Snell and lined a base-hit the other way to right to knock in Cameron for the game’s first run. Bleday tried to take third, but right-fielder Mike Yastrzemski threw a perfect strike to nail Bleday to end the inning.
The home run-happy Giants would strike back against Sears in the top of the seventh. Heliot Ramos led off the inning with an absolute bomb that hit off the blocked off doors where they attach bleachers for football games out in left-center. After getting shut out yesterday, this was the first run the Giants scored in this series.
The Giants had tied the game at 1-1, but Snell ran into trouble again in the bottom of the seventh. Tyler Nevin singled with one out and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Zack Gelof walked, and A’s Manager Mark Kotsay had Seth Brown pinch-run at second for Nevin.
Darrell Hernaiz then walked to load the bases with one out. The Giants had action going in the bullpen, as Snell was on the ropes. Max Schuemann struck out swinging for the second out, but Snell fell behind 3-0 to Cameron.
Snell threw a fastball right at the top of the zone that Home Plate Umpire Emil Jimenez called for strike one. Kotsay and the A’s dugout were livid, and they let Jimenez know just how they felt. Cameron took another fastball for strike two, and then he grounded out to second to end the inning. Snell got out of it, and the Giants escaped disaster, as the game stayed tied at 1-1.
It was also the end of the day for Snell, who had another strong outings. Snell went seven innings; gave up just one run; and struck out ten.
It was off to the eighth, as Sears came back out. Mike Yastrzemski stepped in to lead off the top of the eighth, and after Sears’ first pitch to Yastrzemski was clearly inside for a ball, Kotsay kept yelling at Jimenez. At that point Jimenez ran Kotsay, and the A’s manager came out to get his final say before departing.
After McCray doubled with two outs, Sears was done. Tyler Ferguson came in, and he struck out Tyler Fitzgerald to end the inning.
Submariner Tyler Rogers came in to throw a one, two, three bottom of the eighth, and A’s Closer Mason Miller came in for a one, two, three top of the ninth. Bob Melvin brought in his interim closer, Ryan Walker, for the bottom of the ninth, and Walker pitched through a one-out single to send this game to the tenth.
Dany Jimenez came in for Oakland in the top of the tenth, and former A Matt Chapman was the runner at second. Jerar Encarnacion stepped up to the plate to lead off the inning, and on the first pitch, he hit a leadoff two-run home run to right-center to give the Giants a 3-1 lead.
Melvin then sent Michael Conforto to pinch-hit for Casey Schmitt, and Conforto made it back-to-back with a home run to right to make it 4-1.
Melvin left Walker in for the bottom of the tenth, and Lawrence Butler was the runner at second for the A’s. Schuemann led off and hit a ground ball right to Brett Wisely, who had just come in to play second, and the ball went under Wisely into right-center, which allowed Butler to score to make it 4-2.
Ryan Walker walked Abraham Toro on four pitches, and Brent Rooker lined a base-hit to left to load the bases. Now the A’s had a chance to win it with Bleday coming up to the plate.
Giants Pitching Coach Bryan Price came out to speak to Waker, and it seemed to work. Walker struck Bleday out looking. Miguel Andujar struck out swinging, and Shea Langeliers came to the plate with two outs. Walker struck Langeliers out swinging on three pitches, and Walker had pulled a houdini act to close this one out.
Ryan Walker got the win, and Dany Jimenez took the loss.
If this was indeed the final-ever game of the Bay Bridge Series, it had a fitting ending. The Giants won in a ten-inning thriller; Matt Chapman, who played for the A’s from 2017 to 2021, scored the go-ahead run; and Bob Melvin, who managed the A’s from June 2011 through the end of the 2021 Season was the winning manager for the Giants.
“It’s said,” a visibly-emotional Melvin bluntly said after the game.
Melvin led the A’s to some incredible moments. In 2012, the A’s were five games back of the Texas Rangers in the American League West with ten games to go. The A’s came back to win the division, and they clinched in on an epic final day of the Regular Season on Oct. 3.
Melvin led the A’s to three-straight playoff appearances from 2012 to 2014, as well as another three-straight playoff appearances from 2018 to 2020. He grew up in the Bay Area, and he managed on both sides of the bay. He knows just as much as anyone how much this rivalry means to the Bay Area, and how much the A’s mean to Oakland.
As I said above, while it appears that the A’s are leaving Oakland, the insane logistics of their move to Vegas and their three-year pitstop in Sacramento could leave the door open for a last-minute miracle that could keep the A’s here in Oakland. At this point, we can only hope that will happen.
If this is indeed the end of the Bay Bridge Series, the Giants will end up going 72-76 in the Regular Series Bay Bridge Series dating back to 1997, and they will end up going 32-42 at the Coliseum.
As for the Giants, if they got away with being home run happy, but they should absolutely not rely on home runs for wins. With this much-needed win, they improve back to .500 at 63-63, but they remain four games back of the Braves for the third wild card.
The good news for the Giants is that they’ll have the worst team in Baseball in the 30-95 Chicago White Sox coming into Oracle Park for a three-game set starting Monday night. This will be a must-sweep series for the Giants, who will begin a rough stretch on Friday in Seattle, in which 27 of 30 games will be against teams over .500.
Kyle Harrison (6-5, 4.14 ERA) will make the start for the Giants, and Jonathan Cannon (2-6, 4.02 ERA) will take the ball for the White Sox. First pitch will be at 6:45 p.m.
National League Wild Card Standings:
- Padres 70-55 +2.5
- Diamondbacks 69-56 +3.5
- Braves 66-58 —
Mets 64-60 2.0
GIANTS 63-63 4.0
Cardinals 61-63 5.0
Cubs 61-64 5.5
Reds 60-64 6.0
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