Oakland, CA – The Bay Bridge series moved across the bridge and the A’s continued to dominate. Oakland scored seven runs over two frames and knocked out Jake Peavy in the process. Sean Manaea pitched a solid game coming of the disabled list, as the A’s defeated the Giants 7-1 again giving them a 3-0 advantage in the series.
 
“I felt great, and this kind of game was huge for me and the team,” Manaea said. “We’re just trying to get back to .500. If we can do that, then we’ll see how things turn out.”
The Giants luck keeps getting worse. After losing Joe Panik to a concussion that occurred almost two weeks ago, San Francisco had to place him on the 15-day disabled list. They brought up Ruben Tejada today who watched Oakland turn a double play on the infamous “Chase Utley Rule”. Ramiro Pena hit into a double play because Mac Williamson slid past second base.
Trevor Brown singled and Williamson got a free pass in the second. With two on and one out Pena grounded to shortstop Marcus Semien who threw to second and then to first for the double play. Despite a clean slide to second by Williamson, he didn’t stay on base and was ruled out based on the new slide regulations at second base that was implemented this season.
The “Chase Utley Rule,” was developed after the veteran’s aggressive slide on Mets shortstop Ruben Tejada during last year’s playoffs trying to break up a double play. In an attempt to avoid incidents like this, MLB changed the slide rule this season after Utley broke Tejada’s leg. Now, a runner sliding into second has to make “a bona fide attempt” not just to slide into the base, but also to “remain on the base.
By the third, the A’s scored three unearned runs while the Giants almost lost another player due to injury. An outfield collision had Pena down momentarily. On Semien’s routine fly ball, both Pena and Williamson collided after going for the ball. An error on Williamson and Semien was safe at third to leadoff the inning.
Semien scored on Billy Burns perfect safety squeeze bunt making it a 1-0 game. Coco Crisp followed with a triple and Jed Lowrie capped it off with a two-run homer off Williamson’s glove extending Oakland’s lead 3-0. Williamson made a perfect leap over the right field wall and caught Lowrie’s ball but it fell out of his glove before he touched the ground.
“I thought it had a chance,” said Lowrie. “It looked like it was right on top of the fence. And then his glove hit the top of the fence and it went over.”
Though break for San Francisco loading the bases in the fourth but failed to bring in any runs. Manaea gave up back-to-back singles to both Buster Posey and Brandon Crawford. Brown followed with a single to right field to load the the bases. Manaea got out of jam, he forced Williamson to hit into a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning. The was the second double play for the A’s tonight.
Oakland continued their dominance over the Giants. Bottom of the fourth, the A’s added on four more runs while knocking out Jake Peavy early. Billy Butler walked and Yonder Alonso’s two-run shot to right field made it a 5-0 game. Angel Pagan who made two crucial errors on two fly balls missed Semien’s fly ball making him safe at third with a triple.
Burns doubled to center field, Pagan fumbled the ball again and Semien scored. Crisp singled and drove in Burns extending Oakland’s lead 7-0. That was all San Francisco’s manager Bruce Bochy could take and replaced Peavy with the bullpen. Peavy was furious before exiting to the dugout. He tossed 3.1 frames, allowed six hits, seven runs (four earned), two walks and two home runs.
“We didn’t handle a popup, no question it changed the game,” Bochy said. “It made Jake work a lot harder. He was in a good groove there. Then we drop another popup. We just got to clean it up. That’s the one thing we were doing very well. The one thing we should be consistent at is catching the ball.”
Photo by Eric Taylor
Manea faired much better, he pitched 5.2 innings, gave up six hits allowed no runs, struck out four and walked one. After giving up a double to Posey in the sixth, A’s manager Bob Melvin brought in the bullpen. Manea departed after 83 pitches while making his first start coming off the disabled list. For the first time in his career Manaea allowed no runs.
The Giants got their only run in the eighth off off reliever John Axford. On the bright side San Francisco’s bullpen didn’t allow a run in 4 1/3 innings. The Giants have lost three consecutive games and are now 5-6 in interleague play this season. The loss marks the fourth straight game San Francisco has given up seven or more runs, which is the most since 2006 when they gave up seven or more in five straight.
“That was the stuff you’ve heard about when the name Sean Manaea came up when we made the trade,” said Melvin. “I know he felt good about it, and so did we.”
Oakland has scored at least five runs in six straight games and homered in eight straight games. The A’s have won three consecutive games and six of their last seven after going 4-13 over a 17-game stretch from June 3-22. They improve their interleague record 5-5 after three straight wins against the Giants. Oakland has won 13 of their last 17 meetings against San Francisco at the Coliseum.
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