Athletics shut out, fall to Giants 1-0

So ends the Bay Bridge Series

The Athletics dropped the second game of the series against the Giants, losing 1-0 and splitting what is likely the final Bay Bridge Series. Would have been nice to end on a high note but what can you do?

We had ourselves a good ol’ fashioned pitching duel today. The A’s turned to veteran Ross Stripling hoping to secure the 2-game sweep over the cross-bay rival Giants. San Francisco countered with arguably their best pitcher in Logan Webb, who finished second in NL Cy Young voting last season but has been much more average this year.

Oakland looked like they might get the scoring started early as they collected two singles in the very first inning to set up runners at the corners with just one out. A couple strikeouts ended that early rally and that would be it for a while from the Athletics’ bats. Over the next seven innings the A’s managed just one single and one walk against Webb as the club seemed to have no idea how to hit him tonight.

Meanwhile righty Ross Stripling was matching Webb zero for zero for a while. The veteran only allowed a couple hits over the first four innings, striking out none but also walking none. The Giants finally got to him in the fifth off a pair of singles and a sac fly. San Francisco had the first lead of the night.

Stripling went into the sixth but at 78 pitches manager Mark Kotsay decided to dip into his relief arms, ending Stripling’s day before he could finish six full frames. It was otherwise a stellar start for Stripling, and much improved over his previous start. This was the Stripling the team was hoping for entering the year but better late than never, right?

Oakland needed to figure out Webb sooner than later. Unfortunately they just had no answer for last year’s Cy Young runner-up. The A’s managed a 2-out Toro single in the top of the ninth but Seth Brown grounded out to second to end this one, with Webb going the distance for a complete-game shutout. Yuck.

Well that wasn’t fun. With a chance to sweep the Giants and end this chapter on a high note the club couldn’t muster much of anything on offense. You’re not going to win any games when you can’t score a single run. The entirety of the Oakland offense came from Miguel Andujar and JJ Bleday, who had two hits apiece to account for all Athletics hits tonight, and Abraham Toro, who walked and singled. On the bright side of things, Stripling looked much better in his second start back off the IL and the bullpen didn’t allow San Francisco to expand their minuscule lead. Should have saved some runs from yesterday.

The A’s will get a day off before welcoming the Los Angeles Dodgers to the Coliseum for a three-game set. Rookie righty Joey Estes will take the ball for the home team while the Dodgers will go with a rookie of their own in Gavin Stone. The guys better be ready, as Los Angeles is always a tough team year in and year out.