What we learned as Encarnación powers Giants past A’s in extras originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
OAKLAND — The final Bay Bridge Series matchup drew 32,727 fans to the Coliseum on Sunday. A raucous crowd was treated to free baseball, and the half that came to cheer on the Giants left with a much-needed victory.
Jerar Encarnación hit a two-run homer to center on the first pitch of the 10th inning, and Michael Conforto followed with his own blast as the Giants pulled away in extras for a 4-2 win. They ended up with a weekend and season series split with the Oakland Athletics, who wouldn’t go down quietly.
An error by Brett Wisely scored a run immediately in the bottom of the 10th, and the A’s loaded the bases on a walk and hard single to left. But Ryan Walker, pitching a second inning, froze JJ Bleday with a sinker and then whiffed Miguel Andujar with one of his nastiest sliders of the season. On his 35th pitch, Walker struck out Shean Langeliers to clinch the win.
The A’s took a 2-0 shutout on Saturday, and for most of Sunday’s game, the offenses were similarly stuck in the mud. Lefties Blake Snell and JP Sears each pitched well over seven-plus innings, with Snell giving up just an RBI single and Sears allowing a long solo bomb to Heliot Ramos.
Blake Show
Snell had his usual no-hit stuff early, but the A’s pushed a run across in the sixth and then loaded the bases on a single and two walks with one out in the seventh. Snell simply dialed it up a notch, getting a strikeout and grounder to second — after falling behind 3-0 — to get out of the jam. With three runners stranded and the score still tied, Snell pumped his fist and screamed as he walked off the mound.
The strikeout in the seventh gave Snell double-digits for the fourth time in five starts. He has 55 strikeouts during that span, the most by any MLB pitcher over a five-start stretch this season and most in franchise history. John Montefusco held the previous record with 54 strikeouts over five consecutive starts in 1975.
They Got Bingo
Look, you have to give the Giants credit. They found some incredibly creative ways to keep the offensive woes going early in Sunday’s game.
In the second, Encarnación hit a liner to left and got thrown out at second. An inning later, Mike Yastrzemski was thrown out as he tried to steal the same bag. Those were somewhat normal, but it got ramped up in the fourth, when Tyler Fitzgerald reached on an infield single and then got doubled off by Sears, who…