Oakland A’s, Sonny Gray stymie San Francisco Giants

Sonny Gray worked seven innings of one-run ball, and the Oakland A’s erupted for four runs in the third inning, going on to defeat the San Francisco Giants, 6-1, Tuesday night, as the Giants lost again in Oakland for the eleventh time in the last thirteen games, played on the other side of the Bay.

Gray ended up giving up one run on six hits, while walking one and striking out nine, in dominating the Giants, the second consecutive night that Oakland pitching has accomplished this feat.  The only blemish for Gray was a lead-off home run by Tyler Colvin in the seventh, to prevent the Giants from being shut out for the fifth time in nine games.

Madison Bumgarner began the game by retiring the first six batters he faced, but the A’s erupted in the third inning for four runs on five hits.   

Jed Lowrie got things started with a single, and after Hunter Pence made a great play on Alberto Callaspo’s liner, Nick Punto doubled Lowrie home.  

Coco Crisp singled Punto home and advanced to second when Tyler Colvin threw home, trying to get Punto.  Crisp stole third and scored on an infield hit by Yoenis Cespedes, and the fourth run scored when Derek Norris singled home Cespedes.

The A’s tacked on two runs in the eighth on an RBI-double by Nate Freiman and an RBI-single by Alberto Callaspo.

Madison Bumgarner went seven plus innings, and was responsible for five runs on ten hits, with three walks and only three strikeouts.  Jean Machi came in with no outs in the eighth inning and Freiman on second, and allowed him to score when Callaspo singled him home.  Machi was ejected from the game after the innig for arguing a balk call with home plate umpire Angel Hernandez, who called a special kind of game tonight behind the plate.

But the Giants cannot blame the mess they are in on the umpires.  And they can’t blame Angel Pagan.  I’d rather they didn’t blame anyone, and just got back to playing ball. 

There were a few bright spots: Tyler Colvin hit his second home run of the season and added a single in the ninth; Hunter Pence went two for four as did Michael Morse.  And the Giants actually got the tying run to the plate in the top of the eighth, before Oakland added the final two runs, and that is always a sign of an entertaining game for me.

But another loss has the Giants only eight games above .500, and one game back of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who got pounded by the Detroit Tigers today, 14-5.  The Giants return to AT&T Park for the final two games of the Bay Bridge Series, with Matt Cain going for San Francisco.

If anyone can get the Giants into the win column, it’s the Horse.