Giants LF LaMonte Wade Jr. had one at-bat on Saturday and it came in the ninth inning. The Giants were facing the A's at the Oakland Coliseum on Saturday. The Giants were coming off a Bay Bridge Series opening game loss the night before against the A's, 4-1. Former Giants Sergio Romo and Yusmeiro Petit starred in the game, holding the Giants later in the game. The loss in that game went to Alex Wood (10-4) of the Giants, the win went to the A's James Kaprielian (7-4), and the save went to the A's Lou Trivino (21 SV). The A's became 70-53 while the Giants became 78-44. The A's tied up the 2021 edition of the series, 2-2.
The Giants had ace Kevin Gausman on the mound, while the A's had Sean Manaea starting. The A's scored 3 runs in the first which started with Mark Canha reaching third base on an error by Wilmer Flores. Starling Marte then doubled, scoring Canha, to make it 1-0. Josh Harrison was walked two batters later and he and Marte ran a double steal. Both were safe. Seth Brown then hit a base hit knocking in both Harrison and Marte. The first inning ended, 3-0 Athletics.
In the top of the 2nd, the Giants had a response. LF Darin Ruf walked and Kris Bryant came up. He hit a towering a towering 364 foot homer on the 5th pitch to pull within 1. The A's expanded their lead in the third and fourth. In the third, Matt Olson singled, and then Josh Harrison doubled, scoring Olson, and moving to third during the throw. In the 4th, Sean Murphy singled, which was followed by Tony Kemp doubling, putting both runners in scoring position. Canha then walked, loading the bases. Kevin Gausman then threw a wild pitch advancing all the runners, making the lead now 3 runs. Jarlin Garcia then was brought in after Gausman struck out Marte, and Jarlin retired the rest. Yusmeiro Petit was brought in the 5th for the A's, and Garcia countinued through the 5th for the Giants. Petit kept the Giants scoreless through the 6th, and Garcia did the same against the A's. Andrew Chafin came in in the 7th and had a bad outing. Brandon Belt came up with one out and hit a massive 418 foot solo homer to pull within 2. Darin Ruf then came up after Belt and hit a 391 foot shot to pull within 1. Chafin then retired the side. Dominic Leone held the A's in the 7th and Jake Diekman did the same for the A's in the 8th. In the bottom of the 8th, the submarine star Tyler Rogers held the A's to give the Giants one final chance. Brandon Belt walked with 1 out and Gabe Kapler sent Mike Yastrzemski to pinch run for Belt and sent out LaMonte Wade Jr. to pinch hit for Ruf.
Why he did this:
Wade is fast, Yaz is fast
Wade is extremely good at getting on base
Wade hits doubles
Wade turned on a ball, and powered it 384 feet over the right field wall, to give the Giants the lead. Jake McGee came in and closed it out getting the save. McGee had been coming off a hard inning against the Mets on Wednesday. He blew the save which led to the Giants losing in the 12th, 6-2. This was a good rebound for him. Lou Trivino had given up the homer and got the loss. Rogers got the win with a great inning of relief. The Giants got to 79-44 and the A's dropped to 70-54.
