OAKLAND -- The A's are headed for more than 110 losses, and the right field bleachers on Sunday featured signs with slogans like "Fisher Out" and "Vegas Beware." It's been an unbelievably tough season in Oakland, but with more than 60,000 fans filing into the Coliseum this weekend, a young team got to play meaningful baseball.
That was bad news for a Giants group that's struggling to find its way right now.
The Giants left 11 runners on base and wasted one of their best offensive games of the second half, falling 8-6 to the A's. They dropped both weekend games in Oakland, failing to improve their playoff positioning against the worst team in baseball. This was the soft portion of their August schedule, and they played two disappointing games.
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The Giants have scored more than four runs just twice since a wild 11-10 win over the Cincinnati Reds on July 18, with both performances coming against the A's. They won 8-3 last Wednesday and had traffic on the bases all afternoon on Sunday. They didn't take advantage often enough in the early innings, and that -- plus some sloppy defense -- let the A's crawl back into the game.
With the Giants leading 6-4, shortstop Brandon Crawford's throwing error put runners on the corners with one out in the sixth. Luke Jackson then walked the next two A's, allowing a run to score. With Scott Alexander ready to go, manager Gabe Kapler stuck with Jackson, and Shea Langeliers smacked a slider into left to put the A's back on top.
The A's tacked on another run in the seventh and threatened to do more, but for the second time in three innings, they had a runner picked off at first base by a Giants pitcher.
That wouldn’t matter, as San Francisco went down in order the final two innings.
San Francisco Giants
Road Woes
Alex Cobb has a 1.46 ERA at Oracle Park this season but entered the game at 4.63 on the road. How would he fare in a road game just a short drive from his actual home? This one was in line with the previous games outside the Bay Area.
Cobb gave up two homers to No. 9 hitter Nick Allen, who had one coming into the game, and was charged with five earned in 5 1/3 innings. He has allowed five runs just three times this season: at Milwaukee, Cincinnati and Oakland.
Cobb has also had trouble in day games this season, with that ERA now standing at 5.44 in nine starts. He has a 1.90 ERA in 12 night games.
Is He Back?
LaMonte Wade Jr. had a rough July and has been dealing with back and side discomfort, but he has started to look like his old self this week. Wade had two homers in his previous four games and he singled three times in the first five innings on Sunday.
The single in the first led to the first run of the game and Wade drove in runs with hits in the second and fifth. The three-hit game was his first since June 28 in Toronto. After having just one multi-hit game all of July, he had two this week.
Raking Rookie
It was pretty normal in July for the Giants to have four rookies at the bottom of the lineup, but this week they sent Marco Luciano and Casey Schmitt back to Triple-A. Catcher Patrick Bailey is still on the dirt, though, and he's starting to pick things up at the plate.
Bailey tied a career-high by reaching base four times. He walked in his first plate appearance and then went single, single, walk. Bailey has only reached base four times in one other game this year -- a May 26 blowout of the Milwaukee Brewers.