Bay Bridge Series:
Billy Burns, right, and A’s send Giants closer to elimination.
Let the Tim Hudson Barry Zito matchup take care of the storybook angle. What the Bay Bridge rivalry needed Friday night was some old-fashioned power — and the A’s and Giants were more than willing to oblige.
Oakland’s 5-4 win was a festival of strength, right down to a memorable confrontation between fireballing Sean Doolittle and the Giants’ power-hitting prospect, Mac Williamson. But there was much more to the story, to the delight of a sellout crowd of 36,067 at the Coliseum.
For connoisseurs of pitching, Sonny Gray rebounded from a rocky start to get through the sixth and pick up the win. Stunned by Matt Duffy’s two-run homer in the first, Gray morphed into a nice impression of himself and silenced every ensuing rally, nailing the corners with his breaking pitches at all the right times.
Then there was Jarrett Parker, the Giants’ outfield prospect who
seemed to have no future in the big leagues after a brief trial last year. Facing Ryan Dull, who had just relieved Gray and had yet to allow a run in his brief, eight-outing career, Parker crushed a shot measured at 454 feet (by MLB StatCast) into the second deck in center field. That meant clearing the bleachers
and the row of suites, landing in the first row of an area that seldom sees a baseball. It was the longest homer at the Coliseum this year, and certainly one of the longest ever hit there.
Parker is a soft-spoken sort, not given to boasts or proclamations, but Williamson knows all about the 26-year-old outfielder who has hit three homers since being recalled Sept. 11. “I hit behind that guy (in Triple-A) the last two months,” said Williamson, himself one of the most powerful hitters in the minor leagues. “He has incredible power. He hit one in Albuquerque that probably hasn’t landed yet.”
With Parker manning center field in the Giants’ latest makeshift lineup, Williamson played right field in his first big-league start. He showed off a powerful arm, drilled two solid singles to left (including one off Gray), then came up against Doolittle with two outs and the bases loaded in the eighth after Marlon Byrd’s single had cut Oakland’s lead to 5-4.
“I felt like I was up to the challenge,” said Williamson, who fouled two pitches straight back with his wicked cut, then got under a fastball and popped it up to end the inning. “He got the best of me.”
Doolittle, trying to finish off an injury-plagued year with a flourish, said he “kind of turned a corner” on that at-bat and “felt in a lot better rhythm in the ninth.” He credited catcher Stephen Vogt, back behind the plate for the first time since Sept. 6, for saving the day on Williamson’s towering skyscraper in foul territory.
“The ball had all that backspin on it and Stephen had to run the whole time, never really got set,” Doolittle said. “Really tough play. That was huge for me.”
The Giants didn’t get much of a show from the struggling Mike Leake — four runs in six innings, including home runs by Billy Burns and Billy Butler — further complicating matters as they consider him as a freeagent option this offseason.
“It’s not exactly what I had in mind, coming to the Giants,” Leake said. “But it happens, it’s baseball. I’m not going to get down on it too much. I felt good out there, just wasn’t too consistent hitting my spots, and they really took advantage.”