San Francisco Giants beat A’s 5-1 in Bay Bridge Tune-Up

The San Francisco Giants and the A’s have begun their normal three game, pre-season series. The Giants got the win in game one, by the score of 5-1.

The San Francisco Giants were spurred on by a strong start from Johnny Cueto as they won the first of their three game set against the Oakland A’s. Cueto went 5.2 innings, striking out six, and only surrendering five hits and one run. He also only walked one in his 82 pitch outing. Cueto looked like he could’ve gone 7 or 8 innings easily, but with this early in the season, the Giants want to control the pitch counts.

The Giants were put on the board first thanks to Buster Posey‘s two run double in the top of the third. Pablo Sandoval followed up with a sacrifice fly to make it 3-0. Sandoval would later crush a homer 400 feet into the Oakland Colesium no-mans land to make it 5-1 in the top of the eighth.

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Three Things from Today’s Game:

• One of the more memorable moments in the game was Steven Duggar‘s spectacular catch in the bottom of the third inning. With his 25 man roster spot on the line, Duggar got the start in centerfield today, and made good on the Giants faith in his defensive ability. Matt Joyce belted a Cueto fast ball to center field, where Duggar fought off the sun and swirling wind, reached up over the fence to rob him of a two run homer.
• Pablo Sandoval was productive at the plate. If he can provide that type of pop in backup roles at both first and third, and even in pinch hit situations, the Giants will be quite happy. He’s doing it mainly on the Red Sox’ dime so that’s a positive for the Giants.
• Derek Law and the bullpen put together a good 3.1 innings. Scoreless, and only one hit surrendered in that time-frame. Pierce Johnson‘s final inning was equally impressive, as he struck out the final two batters in dominant fashion.

Next: Rockies 2018 Preview

The San Francisco Giants and Oakland A’s will continue their bay-bridge series tomorrow evening at AT&T Park. First Pitch is at 7:15, with Derek Holland Scheduled to pitch against Daniel Mengden.