Oakland Athletics defeat San Francisco Giants 4-2 – MLB Update
Oakland Athletics continued their winning streak to beat the San Francisco Giants 4-2 at O.co Coliseum, Oakland on Saturday, June 18.
The awed crowd saw Hideki Matsui go for two hits and two RBIs to add to the Giants’ misery.
The Matsui streak came after he had a meeting with his team manager. "We did have an opportunity to speak one-on-one," Matsui said through an interpreter. "To have certain expectations put on you, for any ballplayer, is a comfortable feeling. Everybody seems
more relaxed and settled in."
Troublesome for the Giants was Jonathan Sanchez‘s performance. "He was actually pretty good early," Giants’ manager Bruce Bochy said. "He started to get the ball up and they took advantage. We're just in a rut right now."
Although the Giants’ starter Sanchez, pitched strong innings in the start rivalled by Guillermo Moscoso who was equally tough on the Giants’ offence, Jonathan failed to keep up the momentum.
After four scoreless innings, once Moscoso entered in the fifth, Emmanuel Burriss scored the first run for the Giants. Aubrey Huff followed with his sacrifice fly to left, doubling the Giants’ lead against the Athletics.
But it did not go long as the Oakland Athletics turned everything upside down against the otherwise strong Sanchez in the fifth inning. Sanchez, who supposedly had a firm grip on the Athletics’ offence until fourth, fell down in the fifth inning.
Daric Barton doubled to deep left to bring the Giants’ lead down to 2-1 following whom Cliff Pennington got another single to level the score, finally adding a new sensation in a seemingly pitcher-dominated game.
Hideki Matsui, whose hitting stands at .321 and nine RBIs with three home-runs, hit a two-run homer in the eventful fifth inning to bring the Athletics in control of the game. In an inning that proved to be a game-turner, Matsui’s homer pleased the team
manager.
“I'm good with him against anybody," Melvin said. "Left, right or middle-handers. He's been getting some of his best swings against left-handers."
Having secured a 4-2 lead, the Athletics then opted for Brad Ziegler to come and pitch. The reliever pitched a scoreless inning following whom Joey Devine was brought in and pitched a hitless inning, maintaining the team’s 4-2 lead.
While Ramon Ramirez kept pitching for the Giants right into the eighth inning, his team’s offence failed to live up to the expectations. Andrew Bailey pitched the shut-out ninth inning to secure the series second win for the Athletics.
It will be interesting to see how the Athletics carry their winning momentum into their next match-up. The Giants put in a decent performance, but it was not enough to contain the Athletics’ offence.
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