Giants Avoid Sweep to Hot A's

            Barry Zito and the San Francisco Giants were able to salvage one win against the hot Oakland A’s, with a 5-2 victory on Thursday afternoon.

            The first inning was scary for the Giants, as Zito gave up a double to Coco Crisp, walked Jed Lowrie, and allowed for a double steal, all with no outs. Zito was able to get out of the jam, which set the tone for the rest of the day.

            Oakland drew first blood in the second inning, when Crisp singled to score Derek Norris.

            A’s starter A.J. Griffin was one the verge of pitching a gem until the sixth inning with Pablo Sandoval at the plate. Sandoval singled to center to score Brett Pill and Brandon Crawford. Later in the inning, Brandon Belt doubled to score Sandoval and Hunter Pence.

            The struggling Yoenis Cespedes got his only hit of the day in seventh inning, which scored John Jaso.

            San Francisco added their fifth run in the bottom of the seventh inning, when Crawford grounded into a fielder’s choice, allowing Nick Noonan to score on a throwing error by Adam Rosales.

            The Giants gained a game the Arizona Diamondbacks today, but still are a game and a half back of the snakes.

            This was a win that the Giants needed in order to stop their three game slide and gain some momentum before traveling to National League Central leading St. Louis.

Giants Drop Another To the Surging A's

Tommy Milone won his second straight decision following a five-start skid, pinch-hitter Nate Freiman had a two-run single, and the Oakland Athletics beat the San Francisco Giants 9-6 on Wednesday night for their sixth straight win.

Yoenis Cespedes hit an RBI triple in the first to extend his career-best hitting streak to 11 games, and Jed Lowrie added an RBI double as the A's (31-23) moved a season-best eight games above .500 for the first time since they were 12-4 on April 17. They won for the 11th time in 12 games.

Milone (5-5) outpitched Tim Lincecum and got plenty of support, too. He received three or fewer runs of support in each of his previous seven outings.

Hunter Pence homered for the second straight game and Brett Pill also connected for San Francisco.

The sloppy reigning World Series champion Giants are having their problems -- starting pitching, defense, at the plate, you name it.

San Francisco has only two quality starts in the last 15 games and none on the road this month. The Giants are in a stretch with 14 of 18 away from AT&T Park.

Lincecum (3-5) lost his third straight start and fourth in five. The two-time NL Cy Young Award winner allowed six runs on seven hits in 4 1/3 innings with four strikeouts and four walks. He dropped to 5-3 in 10 career starts against the A's.

Pence hit a solo shot in the second to highlight his three-hit night, then Pill hit his first longball of the year leading off the sixth.

After Cespedes' first-inning triple, Oakland added another run when Cespedes scored on second baseman Marco Scutaro's error. Scutaro misplayed a popup in shallow right field in which he bumped into Pence, giving San Francisco's second baseman nine errors this year -- tied for most in the majors with Washington's Ryan Zimmerman.

Milone struck out three and walked three in five innings, allowing four runs and eight hits in his first career outing and start against the Giants.

Freiman delivered his first career hit as a pinch-hitter with the fifth-inning single.

A's bench coach Chip Hale was ejected in the bottom of the sixth, when the Giants added three runs. One of those came on Andres Torres' double that went over third base, which brought A's manager Bob Melvin out twice to argue. A fan interfered with the ball as it bounced near San Francisco's bullpen and was ejected, but baserunner Gregor Blanco was still allowed to score from first base.

A's center fielder Coco Crisp ran down a deep fly by Brandon Crawford to end the seventh, robbing him of an extra-base hit that would have driven in a run. Crisp hit a sacrifice fly in the eighth for insurance.

San Francisco lost its third in a row to the A's, dropping the Bay Bridge Series for the first time since going 2-4 in 2008. The clubs split their six games in 2010-11, then the Giants went 4-2 last season.

Scutaro hit a two-out RBI double in the eighth and Pablo Sandoval followed with a run-scoring single to make it 7-6, snapping an 0-for-15 stretch. Sean Doolittle surrendered a run for the first time in 14 appearances.

The A's got one back in the ninth on the Giants' third error. Grant Balfour pitched the bottom half for his 12th save in as many chances and 30th straight dating to last year.

Giants center fielder and leadoff hitter Angel Pagan was set to receive a cortisone shot in his injured left hamstring to alleviate the bursitis that has sidelined him since Sunday. Manager Bruce Bochy doesn't expect him to need a stint on the disabled list.

Giants Lose on the Road Again

            The San Francisco Giants have not played well on the road this season, and this trend continued Tuesday night as they fell 6-3 to the Oakland A’s.

            San Francisco had a 9-14 road record going into the night and they had to send out Michael Kickham to make his first big league start.

            It was hoped that Kickham could eat up a few innings so they could get to the league’s best bullpen.

            The Giants struck first on a Hunter Pence single that scored second baseman Marco Scutaro.

            In the second inning, Derek Norris hit his second homerun of the season to put the A’s up 2-1.

            With the bases loaded in the fourth inning, Kickham walked Jed Lowrie to score Chris Young. Nate Frieman singled in Yoenis Cespedes and that was the last batter tha Kickham faced on the night.

            The fifth inning presented the Giants with another bases loaded jam, which resulted in Chad Gaudin walking home Josh Donaldson.

            San Francisco scored its second run of the game when Buster Posey grounded out to third, allowing Marco Scutaro to come home.

            Adam Rosales hit a homerun to left field in the eighth inning, putting the game out of reach.

            In the ninth inning Hunter Pence tried to mount a comeback as he homered for the eighth time this season, but his teammates did not provide any help.

            Even though the Giants played just 17 miles away from AT&T Park, they are definitely excited to get back across the bay for two more games with the A’s.

San Francisco Giants Only Muster Four Hits in Loss

It was a gray day at O.co Colesium as the San Francisco Giants dropped the first game of the "Bay Bridge" series 4 – 1.  Madison Bumgarner took the loss as he fell to 4 and 3.  While for the A's, Dan Straily had a strong start and he earned to win today. 

With a tight strike zone, Bumgarner could not command his four pitches as he allowed five walks in six innings of work, but he struck out six.  Bumgarner was frustrated with today's home plate umpire, Mark Carlson and the young lefty's emotion on the mound clearly showed.  He allowed A's clean up hitter, Josh Donaldson to hit a two run home run to right center in the fourth which turned out to be the A's first hit of the ball game. 

The Giants hitters simply could not figure out Straily as the top six batters only mustered one hit, and as a group the team ended up with four hits.  Their lone run came in the sixth when Buster Posey grounded out to short to allow Gregor Blanco to score. 

It remained 2 – 1 going into the seventh, but a two out two RBI double by Yoenis Cespedes gave the A's with some insurance.  Giants reliever, George Kontos hung a slider to Cespedes and he made the Giants pay by driving the ball off the wall in right center. 

The Giants will play another game in Oakland before heading to AT&T Park with two against the A's there.  Tomorrow's starters will feature rookie replacement, Michael Kickham from the Giants and Jarrod Parker takes the hill for the A's.  

Giants Comeback to Beat Rockies Again

            The San Francisco Giants got down 2-0 in the first inning of every single game in this series against the Colorado Rockies. Sunday afternoon did not provide the same suspense as Saturday’s game, but the Giants came back to win 7-3.

            Matt Cain did not have command of his pitches early, as he walked five Rockie hitters in the first two innings.

            Cain settled down and pitched five solid innings. When asked about his performance, Cain said, "I thought I might run out of pitches sometime in the third. I just made a little bit better pitches where the balls weren't maybe up as much."

            After Cain was pulled from the game, the Giants would feature six relievers, who gave up only one run.

            In the first inning, Rockie right fielder Michael Cuddyer doubled to left to score Dexter Fowler and Nolan Arenado.

            The Rockies would not score again until the eight inning, when Jordan Pacheco singled in Todd Helton.

            Giants superstar catcher Buster Posey is crazy hot right now, as he contributed a homerun in the second inning and a single in the eighth inning.

            San Francisco broke the game open in the fifth inning, when Brandon Belt doubled to score Marco Scutaro and Hunter Pence. Later on in the inning, Andres Torres doubled to score Belt.

            The Giants would add two more runs in the sixth inning, when Pence doubled to center to score Scutaro and Posey.

            The men in orange and black are tied with Arizona Diamondbacks for first place in the National League West. San Francisco hopes that their good luck stays with them for the remainder of the year.