Athletics put a temporary halt to Giants momentum and avoid being swept at Oracle Park
SAN FRANCISCO — The Giants have made a living grinding out at-bats, with opposing pitchers compiling high pitch counts and early exits.
Not so Sunday against the Athletics and left-handed starter Cole Irvin at Oracle Park.
Irvin prevented the Giants from a three-game sweep of the San Francisco Giants, throwing eight shutout innings with two walks and eight strikeouts as the Athletics won 6-2 before a crowd of 35,920.
Irvin threw 100 pitches, 71 of them strikes, in what tied the longest outing of his career before Deolis Guerra replaced him in the ninth. The only Giants hits against Irvin were a single by Buster Posey and two ground ball singles by Darin Ruf.
The Giants got to Guerra for two runs in the ninth, highlighted by a Posey single and doubles from Donovan Solano and Steven Duggar, before Lou Trivino got the final out for the Athletics with a strikeout of pinch-hitter Brandon Crawford.
The Giants, who still own the best record in the major leagues at 50-27, visit the second place Los Angeles Dodgers for games on Monday and Tuesday.
The Athletics (47-33) open a three-game series against Texas beginning Monday at the Coliseum.
Irvin (6-7) pitched for Philadelphia under Kapler in 2019, going 2-1 in 41 2/3 innings in 16 games with three starts. Kapler remembers Irvin for his ability to set a good pace and his ability to consistently throw strikes.
Only two other starters have completed seven innings against the Giants this season — the Dodgers Walker Buehler and Washington’s Joe Ross.
It was his ability to be economical with his pitches that put Irvin over the top against rookie Sammy Long (1-1), whose control issues led to his demise in the sixth inning of his second major league start.
The Giants were victimized by a ruthlessly efficient sixth inning by the Athletics which was fueled by Long’s control issues. The A’s ended up scoring three times with only one hit — a run-scoring single from Aramis Garcia.
It started when Long plunked Chad Pinder in the back, then threw a pitch under Tony Kemp’s chin. That prompted a visit from pitching coach Andrew Bailey, and when Long walked Kemp, it was manager Gabe Kapler’s turn.
John Brebbia came on in relief, giving up the line single to Garcia for a 3-0 lead. After Skye Bolt struck out, Irvin pushed a bunt to the right, with first baseman Darin Ruf making a glove flip late to Posey at the plate with Kemp scoring.
A third run came home when Elvis Andrus lofted a sacrifice fly to right.
Garcia also added a run-scoring single in the seventh against Giants reliever Jimmy Scherfy for a 6-0 lead.
Long got Ramon Laureano to fly out on his first pitch of the game, but quickly found himself in trouble, giving up consecutive singles to newly anointed No. 2 hitter Andrus and first baseman Matt Olson.
Chapman was next, and he hit a solid single to right to bring home both runs and get the A’s off to a good start.
