By: Phillip Torres
SAN FRANCISCO-The San Francisco Giants hosted the Oakland Athletics at AT&T Park in San Francisco on Friday night. It was the second exhibition game in as many days at China Basin against their rivals from across the Bay. Tim Lincecum faced off against Jesse Chavez who entered the game with a 4-1 Spring record. The Giants were coming off of a 4-0 defeat last night from Oakland, and they fell 4-1 again tonight as Chavez carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning.
Lincecum was a little wild on the night in his four innings before a line drive by Daric Barton ended his night early when it bounced off of his left knee. Buster Posey defended the ball nicely to through out Barton to end the inning, but the hit caused Lincecum to leave his last Spring Training outing earlier than expected. Lincecum ended the night with four innings pitched. giving up one run and three hits, and three walks while striking out four. His spring record fell to 1-1 with a 5.79 ERA. ”The Freak” luckily avoided a freak injury right before the season opener on Monday, as he sustained only a left knee contusion.
The Lone run that was given up by Lincecum came in the third inning as John Jaso blasted a leadoff homerun onto the right field arcade. Before Angel Pagan’s one out double in the sixth inning, Chavez had only allowed two base runners, and that was a walk to Michael Morse and when he hit Hector Sanchez with an inside breaking ball that cut a little too much. Chavez earned the victory on the night and closed his spring with a remarkable 5-1 record and a 2.22 earned run average.
Oakland added onto their 1-0 lead in the sixth inning with a three run rally to give them a cushion heading late into the game. Sam Fuld knocked in a bases loaded, bases clearing triple off of lefty Dan Runzler to extend the lead to 4-0.
San Francisco could not get any type of offense going all night until the ninth inning. Joaqiun Arias knocked in Juan Perez with a two out RBI single to put the Giants on the board for the first time in the past two games. the run made it a 4-1 Athletics lead but the Giants managed to get the tying run to the plate against closer Jim Johnson as Tyler Colvin followed the Arias single with a base hit of his own. The threat was short lived though as Sanchez then popped out on the first pitch with a towering pop fly to center field.
The last Bay Bridge exhibition game will continue on Saturday, but it will be played across the Bay Bridge in Oakland. First pitch on Saturday will be at 1:05 PM at the O.co Coliseum. It will be the last game of the Spring Training season as opening day will be on Monday March 31, 2014 as the Giants will be hosted by the Arizona Diamondbacks.
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