SAN FRANCISCO -- It'll take some time to figure out what to call this version of Giants-Athletics. It's certainly not a Bay Bridge Series, and I-80 Series doesn't quite have the same ring. In the press box's notes at Oracle Park, the games were referred to as "their Northern California season series."
The Giants came up with an easier name for what happened this weekend. A sweep.
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SIGN UP HERE LaMonte Wade Jr. and Patrick Bailey sparked a comeback Sunday afternoon as the Giants completed the three-game sweep of the A's with a 3-2 win. After dropping five of their previous six, the Giants found three very different ways to topple the A's, who have exceeded expectations this season.
Wade came off the bench and led off the eighth with a triple and Bailey followed with a single. After a bunt by Christian Koss, Heliot Ramos bounced a single into left, allowing Bailey to race home as the go-ahead run. The rally came too late for Justin Verlander, but it wouldn't have mattered anyway.
Verlander has dealt with an incredible run of bad luck in recent weeks, but there was nobody else to blame Sunday when he again came up short of getting his first win as a Giant. Verlander didn't even go deep enough to qualify, with command issues leading to him being pulled before the top of the fifth. MLB's active wins leader hasn't picked one up through 10 starts and still is sitting on 262 for his career.
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Lawrence Butler gave the A's a 2-1 lead in the fourth with a two-run single, and the Giants didn't threaten the lead until the seventh when they put two on for pinch-hitter Mike Yastrzemski. He hit a fly ball to deep center to end the inning, but an inning later, two more pinch-hitters got the offense going.
Cause For Concern
Verlander has done just about everything in the big leagues, but this box score line was a new one. He walked at least five for just the 15th time in 536 career starts, and the second time in the last eight seasons. This was the first time that Verlander walked five in just four innings. He threw 84 pitches and just 41 of them were strikes. Only 40 percent of his fastballs were strikes, and the pitch didn't generate a single swing-and-miss.
Walks will happen, but the velocity certainly was concerning. Verlander has averaged 94.2 mph with his four-seamer this year but topped out at 93 on Sunday. His fastball and slider both were down about three mph, and there were a lot of 90s and 91s mixed in.
Ramos, Right Away
After Verlander took 28 pitches to get through the top of the first, Ramos gave him an immediate lead. Ramos got a first-pitch fastball across the heart of the plate from A's lefty Jeffrey Springs and rocketed a 111 mph homer into the home bullpen.
The leadoff homer was the second of Ramos' career and second this month. He has four homers in May and is up to eight on the season, which is tied with Matt Chapman for second on the team behind Wilmer Flores (10). Flores is the only Giant currently on pace for 30 homers, but Ramos and Chapman are close.
Left Out
After the Ramos blast, Springs didn't allow another hit until Chapman scorched a single up the middle with two outs in the seventh. That's what the Giants have dealt with all year against lefties.
The lineup was hitting just .229 against lefties entering the day, with a .677 OPS. Flores got to JP Sears on Friday night, but those moments have been rare. Flores has three homers against lefties and left-handed hitter Jung Hoo Lee also has three, but the rest of the Giants have combined for just eight.
Willy Adames was 0-for-2 against Springs and is hitting .151 against lefties with one extra-base hit. Luis Matos, who is platooning with Yastrzemski, is hitting .097.