Athletics at Giants
The San Francisco Giants escaped with a victory in the opener of the Bay Bridge Series to reach the .500 mark and remain in the hunt for a wild-card spot in the National League. They look to complete a two-game sweep and extend their winning streak to four games when they host the Oakland Athletics on Wednesday afternoon.
Scooter Gennett's sacrifice fly in the seventh inning on Tuesday proved crucial as Oakland loaded the bases with one out in the ninth but scored just once as Will Smith struck out Chad Pinder to preserve a 3-2 victory for San Francisco. Evan Longoria and Kevin Pillar hit back-to-back RBI doubles in the sixth for the Giants, who remained 3 1/2 games behind St. Louis for the second wild card. Stephen Piscotty belted a solo homer and Mark Canha drew a bases-loaded walk for the Athletics, who fell to 3-4 on their eight-game road trip and trail Tampa Bay by 2 1/2 games for the second wild-card spot in the American League. Piscotty, who missed the entire month of July with a knee injury, has homered in three of his last five contests.
TV: 3:45 p.m. ET, NBCS California (Oakland), NBCS Bay Area (San Francisco)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Athletics RH Homer Bailey (9-8, 5.54 ERA) vs. Giants RH Tyler Beede (3-6, 5.61)
Bailey has struggled since being acquired from Kansas City despite posting a 2-2 record, as he has surrendered 23 runs and 33 hits over 25 1/3 innings in five starts for an 8.17 ERA. The 33-year-old Texan was battered for seven runs over 4 2/3 frames in a loss to the Cubs in Chicago last Wednesday. Bailey has been superb against San Francisco, going 4-0 with two of his four career shutouts and a 3.57 ERA in eight starts.
Beede has not fared well since tossing eight scoreless innings against the New York Mets on July 19, yielding 18 runs and 32 hits over 19 1/3 innings while going 0-3 in four starts. The 26-year-old native of Massachusetts escaped with a no-decision against Philadelphia on Friday after giving up five runs in as many frames. Beede, who never has faced Oakland, is 0-2 with a 4.65 ERA in five starts and one relief appearance at home this season.
WALK-OFFS
1. The Giants recalled C Aramis Garcia, who started at first base on Tuesday and went 0-for-2 with a walk and a run, from Triple-A Sacramento.
2. Oakland LHP Sean Manaea (shoulder/side) could make his season debut soon as he allowed one run and four hits while registering 10 strikeouts over 5 2/3 innings in a rehab start for Triple-A Las Vegas on Tuesday.
3. San Francisco INF Pablo Sandoval (elbow) was kept out of Tuesday's starting lineup while OF Alex Dickerson (oblique) began a rehab assignment with Sacramento.