Samardzija Sets Down 15 Straight In Giants' 3-1 Win Over A's
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Jeff Samardzija retired 15 consecutive batters after allowing a triple on his third pitch of the game, and the San Francisco Giants beat the Oakland Athletics 3-1 on Thursday night.
Buster Posey had three hits, including an RBI double in the fifth. Brandon Crawford and Ehire Adrianza also drove in runs for San Francisco, and all three runs scored with two outs.
Samardzija was sharp in his final tuneup of the spring while working five crisp innings. He struck out five, didn't walk anyone and allowed only three balls out of the infield over his final four innings. Samardzija has allowed only two runs over his last 11 innings and hasn't walked a batter since March 16.
"I pound the zone and there's no walks; for me that's my game plan," Samardzija said. "When you don't walk anyone it's kind of just up to where that ball goes. As long as you're making your good pitches you're probably going to get a lot of outs."
Stephen Vogt doubled in Billy Butler in the seventh for Oakland's only run. The A's have lost four straight.
WINE IS FINE
The A's used Chris Coughlin at DH even though the game was in an NL park, though it took a little gift from Oakland manager Bob Melvin to make it happen- a bottle of wine that he sent to Giants skipper Bruce Bochy.
"He bribes me a little bit," Bochy joked. "I'll leave it at that."
Bochy opted to let his pitchers hit and is considering doing it even when the series moves to Oakland on Saturday. He's also considering having the pitcher hit eighth in the batting order, something he's toyed with in spring training while having former leadoff hitter Angel Pagan bat ninth.
"I'm going to keeping thinking about it," Bochy said. "It gives me two leadoff hitters there. Frees up Pagan to run like he's been doing."
STARTING TIME
Athletics: Having already secured the No. 3 spot in Oakland's rotation, Chris Bassitt was trying to fine-tune things in his final spring start and was mostly successful while giving up one run and three hits over four innings.
"I'm glad to get out of Arizona," Bassitt said. "Nothing moves like the way you want to. You get out here, its's so different. You wonder where's this been the whole time. It was a nice little tuneup, ready for the season kind of thing."
Giants: Samardzija looked much sharper than he did earlier in the spring after giving up a triple to Billy Burns on a hanging slider. His delivery was smooth and he stayed ahead of hitters most of the game.
"Another really impressive start," Bochy said. "He had good stuff, good tempo and really commanded all of his pitches."
TRAINER'S ROOM
Athletics: RHP Henderson Alvarez will throw a bullpen session on Friday and could begin facing hitters next week as he continues to recover from shoulder surgery. ... Coco Crisp (hamstring) went through a full series of drills before the game and will start in center field on Friday. ... The A's committed two errors to raise their majors-leading total to 44.
Giants: 2B Joe Panik and 3B Matt Duffy were back in the lineup after being rested a day earlier. ... Cleanup hitter Hunter Pence doubled and scored. He's batting .447 this spring.
UP NEXT
Athletics: RHP Kendall Graveman pitches in San Francisco on Friday and is coming off his best start of the Cactus League when he allowed one run over seven innings against Kansas City.
Giants: Jake Peavy makes his seventh start of the spring hoping to snap a two-game skid. He has allowed nine runs over his previous 10 1/3 innings.
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press.
