Athletics top rival Giants 2-1

The Athletics got back in the win column today as Oakland defeated the San Francisco Giants 2-1 on a beautiful afternoon at the Coliseum.

It was a pitching duel today as righties Paul Blackburn and Ross Stripling traded zero’s through the first four innings. Oakland managed just one hit, an Esteury Ruiz leadoff single in the bottom of the first. And in his first game back since coming off of the IL he, of course, got right back to stealing bases by swiping his AL-leading 44th bag.

It wasn’t until the fifth inning that the game saw it’s first run. And it was courtesy of young infielder Jordan Diaz smacking his 8th home run of the season:

Oakland had a small lead but a lead nonetheless. Meanwhile Blackburn was just doing his thing and keeping the Giants off the board. He wound up pitching six full inning, allowing just two hits and three walks while striking out seven. A quality performance from the leader of the starting staff.

Then it was up to the bullpen. Austin Pruitt came on for the seventh and had a scoreless appearance, but Angel Felipe had a harder time in the eighth. San Francisco worked two baserunner and a sac fly knotted this game up. It was going to take some late game heroics to get the sun today.

And that’s just what happened. Oakland got a couple baserunners on to start the eighth and Seth Brown stepped to the plate with a chance to bring in the go-ahead run:

After retaking the lead it all came down to closer Trevor May. And he nailed down the win with a quick 1-2-3 top of the ninth to secure Oakland’s 31st win.

Heck yes. It always feel good to win but especially good against these guys. Blackburn was solid and the bats had just enough timely hitting to get the job done. They’ll go for the series and season split tomorrow afternoon in the final matchup between these two teams this year. It’ll be Luis Medina facing off against Alex Cobb. Let’s go A’s!