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SF Giants waste Ross Stripling's standout start in 2-1 loss to Athletics

Ross Stripling had his best start of the season, but the SF Giants offense remained relatively lifeless in a loss to the Oakland Athletics.

Marc Delucchi

SF Giants waste Ross Stripling's standout start in 2-1 loss to Athletics
SF Giants waste Ross Stripling's standout start in 2-1 loss to Athletics /
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The SF Giants lost to the Oakland Athletics 2-1 on Saturday afternoon, losing to the worst team in MLB. After an impressive homestand, where the Giants managed to win games in spite of a lackluster offense, they were unable to evade losing so easily across the Bay. The Giants dropped to 61-50 on the season and are now 3.5 games back of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League West.

SF Giants second baseman Thairo Estrada walks behind home plate during the first inning against the Oakland Athletics at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum on August 5, 2023.
SF Giants 2B Thairo Estrada walks to home plate against the A's on August 5, 2023 / Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports

While the Giants welcomed second baseman Thairo Estrada back from the injured list on Saturday night, San Francisco's lineup continued struggling to put runs on the scoreboard. A's veteran junkballer Paul Blackburn allowed just two hits across six shutout innings of work before handing things off to his bullpen. In fact, the Giants were unable to scratch a run across the plate until the eighth inning.

Estrada drew a one-out walk from A's setup arm Angel Felipe before advancing to third base on a single by Wilmer Flores. A's manager Mark Kotsay decided to make a pitching change, bringing in Trevor May. May retired the lone two batters he faced but allowed the tying run to score on a sacrifice fly by Joc Pederson.

The Giants were only able to tie the game that late because of an excellent start from Ross Stripling, who delivered his best start since donning a Giants uniform. Stripling looked like a big-league pitcher facing a fringey MLB lineup, which is exactly what Oakland has rolled out all season. He recorded seven strikeouts across 5.1 innings pitched. He only allowed three hits, but a solo home run by Jordan Díaz scored the A's only run against the former Dodgers and Blue Jays pitcher.

Since returning from the injured list at the end of June, Stripling has seemingly returned to his previous form. In a mix of swingman and traditional starting opportunities, he has a 3.34 ERA (3.64 FIP) with 29 strikeouts and one walk in 35 innings pitched.

With no other run-scoring rallies, though, the Giants wasted Stripling's quality outing. With the game tied at 1, the A's put a pair of runners on base against Ryan Walker and forced Giants manager Gabe Kapler to call upon Scott Alexander. The lefty got the second out in the inning without allowing a run, but Seth Brown lined a two-out single into the outfield to score the eventual winning run.

The SF Giants will get another crack at the Bay Bridge series on Sunday afternoon back at the Oakland Coliseum. All-Star righty Alex Cobb will face the Athletics' lineup and matchup against A's righty Luis Medina.

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Marc Delucchi
MARC DELUCCHI

Marc Delucchi (he/they/she) serves as the Managing Editor at Giants Baseball Insider, leading their SF Giants coverage. As a freelance journalist, he has previously covered the San Francisco Giants at Around the Foghorn and McCovey Chronicles. He also currently contributes to Niners Nation, Golden State of Mind, and Baseball Prospectus. He has previously been featured in several other publications, including SFGate, ProFootballRumors, Niners Wire, GrandStand Central, Call to the Pen, and Just Baseball. Over his journalistic career, Marc has conducted investigations into how one prep baseball player lost a college opportunity during the pandemic (Baseball Prospectus) and the rampant mistreatment of players at the University of Hawaii football program under former head coach Todd Graham (SFGate). He has also broken dozens of news stories around professional baseball, primarily around the SF Giants organization, including the draft signing of Kyle Harrison, injuries and promotions to top prospects like Heliot Ramos, and trade details in the Kris Bryant deal. Marc received a Bachelor's degree from Kenyon College with a major in economics and a minor in Spanish. During his time in college, he conducted a summer research project attempting to predict the future minor-league performance of NCAA hitters, worked as a data analyst for the school's Women's basketball team, and worked as a play-by-play announcer/color commentator for the basketball, baseball, softball, and soccer teams. He also worked as an amateur baseball scout with the Collegiate Baseball Scouting Network (later renamed Evolution Metrix), scouting high school and college players for three draft cycles. For tips and inquiries, feel free to reach out to Marc directly on Twitter or via email (delucchimarc@gmail.com).

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