OAKLAND — The Giants got their most valuable position player back Saturday but learned it will take more than one man to cure their offensive woes that have persisted for the better part of a month.
Set to face the majors' worst pitching staff with a lineup bolstered by Thairo Estrada and freshly rested from a day off, the one run on two hits the Giants produced in their last game figured to be a logical low point for their lineup's futility. Think again.
Estrada reached base twice and scored a run, but it proved to be the only one Giants pushed across in a 2-1 loss to the lowly A's, who fended off their 81st loss of the season. Only once, during a double-header in 2020, have the Giants recorded fewer hits over a two-game span under manager Gabe Kapler.
The Giants managed to post a winning reocrd during Estrada's absence (15-11) despite scoring the fewest runs in the majors (3.3 per game) behind consistently strong pitching. They had won seven of nine entering Saturday with a 1.91 ERA in those games.
But, even with an effective performance from Ross Stripling, their continued offensive struggles meant any mistake was magnified.
On Saturday, they couldn't overcome a rare bout of ineffectiveness from reliever Ryan Walker, who took the loss after allowed the first two runners of the eighth to reach base. Seth Brown singled home the decisive run against left-hander Scott Alexander.
Estrada scored the tying run in the eighth after drawing a walk and scoring on a sac fly from Joc Pederson. He advanced from first to third on a single from Wilmer Flores, only the Giants' third hit of the game — two from Flores, who extended his on-base streak to 16 games, and the other from Estrada.
Estrada was only the Giants' second runner to reach scoring position.
In his second at-bat back from the IL, with one out in the fourth inning, Estrada slapped a single into center field. Followed by a pop up from Flores and a nubber off the bat of Pederson, however, Estrada was stranded at first.
Held scoreless for seven innings, the Giants put runners on base in six of their first seven times to the plate but failed to capitalize. J.D. Davis twice reached to lead off an inning but was left stranded on base both times; Patrick Bailey didn't even end the inning on the bases after walking to lead off the seventh; he was doubled up trying to get back to first after misreading a soft pop fly to left from Crawford.
After allowing a leadoff single to the A's first batter of the game, Estuary Ruiz, Stripling retired 12 straight batters. Third baseman Jordan Diaz snapped the streak by leading off the fifth inning with a solo homer, the first runs of the game from either team.
Diaz golfed a knee-high changeup over the left-field wall, traveling an estimated 402 feet, or about eight feet further than Seth Brown the previous inning. Brown also unloaded on a changeup, but his was tracked down by Luis Matos, who crashed face-first into the wall while making a spectacular, inning-ending catch.
Stripling was the twofold beneficiary of the Giants' defense, which has the second-best fielding percentage in the majors since the start of July.
To record the second out of the inning, Brandon Crawford ranged to his right and was in the outfield grass by the time he backhanded a ground ball into the hole from Zack Geloff. His momentum carrying him away from the play, Crawford threw across his body and to LaMonte Wade Jr. at first base in time to get Geloff.
Giving Stripling the starting nod in a reversal from their opener strategy, Kapler said before the game, "I think it's nice to have several starters in the rotation that you can at least for a while give them that opportunity to start and go deeper into a game. Not to say we'll do that every time through, but it's nice on a day like today."
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