Oakland A’s hitter Tony Kemp takes one in the back in the third inning against the San Francisco Giants on Fri Jun 25, 2021 at Oracle Park in San Francisco (AP News photo)
Oakland 0 – 6 – 0
San Francisco 2 – 5 – 1
By Lewis Rubman
Friday, June 25, 2021
SAN FRANCISCO–The battered Oakland Athletics, limping back to the bay area after splitting a four game series with the last place Texas Rangers and dropping two out of three to the struggling Yankees, announced more discouraging news before tonight’s game in San Francisco. Mark Canha went on the ten day injured list thanks to the left hip strain he suffered early in Wednesday’s game in Arlington.
Canha’s modest batting average of .255 belies his value to the A’s. His OBP is .264, and his OPS , .826, second on the team only to Ramón Laureano’s .844.
He has been an effective lead off hitter, and was third in the league in runs scored when he was injured. The human bull’s eye was hit by 13 pitches and started games at all three outfield positions and as the designated hitter. He also has seen service in the infield.
His replacement will be Vimael Machín, who is as versatile, if not as accomplished, as Canha. He was with the A’s for about a month earlier this season and appeared in only nine games, going 1 for 20. He played second, third, and short.
He has played outfield and first base as well and, of course, could be used as a DH, which would be extremely unlikely. He hit .300, with seven doubles, three triples, three home runs and 28 RBI in 31 games for Las Vegas.
The Giants had their own bad news on the injury front. Buster Posey was a last minute scratch because of back stiffness.
The A’s started the game at 46-31, two games behind the division leading Astros, who were rained out in Detroit, and a game in front of the surging Mariners.
They were up against the winningest team in major league baseball. The Giants, at 48-26, took a 4-1/2 game lead over the Dodgers and Padres into the contest. They sent veteran right hander Johnny Cueto (5-3, 4.05) against Oakland’s ace, southpaw Sean Manaea (6-3,3.01).
The resut was a hard fought pitcher’s duel that the Giants eventually won, 2 -0.
The teams traded zeroes for a couple of innings, and then, with two down in the top of the third, events took an interesting turn. Manaea got the A’s first hit, splitting the gap between Mike Yaztremski in right and Mauricio Dubón in center and huffing and puffing his way to second base for a double.
Then Tony Kemp, batting in the lead off spot in Canha’s absence, followed Canha’s footsteps by getting hit by a pitch Matt Chapman loaded the bags on a slow grounder to short that Brand Crawford coluldn’t handle and which was scored—correctly—as a hit. This brought Matt Olson to the plate. Cueto got him to fly out to center, ending the game’s first serious threat.
But it was the Giants who drew first, and, it turned out, only blood. Wilmer Flores lined a two out double into the left field corner, and Crawford, who entered the game fourth in the National League in runs batted in, drove him home with a single, also to left. It was the Giants´ shortstop´s 50th RBI of the season.
He hada chance to drive in more when he came up with two out on two on two frames later, but he popped an infield fly. It bounced off the heel of Chapman’s glove, but an infield flyis an infield fly, and it didn’t look as if the A’s third baseman were trying to fool Darin Ruf, the runner on second.
Manaea left the game trailing 1-0 in the top of the seventh when Mitch Moreland pinch hit for him and flew out to left. The A’s stater had gone six innings, allowing that one (earned) run on three hits and three walks. He struck out seven Giantsand threw 93 pitchees, 64 for strikes.
It was a good outing, and he complimented it by going two for two at the plate, adding an infield single in the fifth to go with his third frame two bagger. He was took he loss, bringing his record to 6-4, 2.91.
Curt Casali greeted Cam Bedrosian, who took over for Manaea in the home seventh, with a booming home run over the National Car Rental advertisment in left field. The ball left home plate at 104 mph and travelled 378 feet. It was his first round tripper of the year.
Bedrosian left after surrendering a Texas League single to Dubón and retiring Alex Dickerson, pinch hitting for Cueto, on a fly to left. Deolis Guerra then took over on the mound for Oakland. He ended the inning by getting Steven Duggar, pinch hitting for Slater, to ground into an around the horn double play.
Cueto’s line was seven shut out innings of five hit ball, in. which he allowed one walk and hit one batter. Of his 102 pitches, 67 were counted as strikes, he would be credited with the win, giving him a 6-3, 3.63 record for the. year. The right handed submariner Tyler Rogers took over for him in the eighth and reetired the side on one hit.
Southpaw Jake McGee put the A’s away in the ninth, allowing only one base runner, Elvis Andrus, who got to first on an error byFlores. That was McGee’s 15th. save of 2021.
Saturday’s game is scheduled to start at 7:05, with Frankie Montás (7-7, 4.79) going against Alex Wood (6-3, 4.09)
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