All things considered, a six-game Bay Bridge Series sweep was unlikely. The A's had shut out the Giants in back-to-back games on the back half in Oakland after demoralizing their regional rivals at the Oracle Park half weeks ago. The Giants had their say, handing the A's a 14-2 loss Sunday, moving the series to a 5-1 Oakland win. The A's claimed the Bay Bridge trophy Saturday.
For the A's, the loss prolonged a potential American League West division clinch another day. With the Houston Astros beating the Arizona Diamondbacks and A's loss, their magic number remains one. Same stipulations will apply moving forward.
Mike Minor came off a seven-inning shutout against the Seattle Mariners with an iffy start Sunday. For the most part, Minor was hitting his spots. He made a mistake on a breaking ball to Darin Ruf, who hit a two-run home run in the fourth. Chadwick Tromp took a decent curveball out of the yard for the first two-run homer of the day.
Minor left the game after allowing back-to-back walks in the sixth inning. J.B. Wendelken gave up a bloop single and a Brandon Crawford grand slam in relief, putting a comeback nearly out of the question.
The A's lost their second game against a left-handed starter this season, able to pin two runs on Giants' Tyler Anderson. Those two runs came from none other than Jake Lamb, who punched a two-out, two-strike single with the bases loaded.
