​  The Athletics took on the San Francisco Giants in the second game of this three-game interleague series on a breezy summer night in The City by the Bay”.It looked like Max Muncy’s eighth inning home run would be enough to win this pitching duel. However, the A’s beleaguered bullpen had a final say, blowing its sixth save of June as the Giants rallied with two home runs in the ninth inning for the 2-1 series clinching victory. Not only did the A’s lose a fourth straight game, but they now could be without shortstop Jacob Wilson for another extended period of time.Both pitchers—Giants right-hander Tyler Mahle and A’s left-hander Gage Jump—got off to strong starts, working scoreless first two innings. Jump struck out the side in his first inning of work before stranding a runner at second base in the next inning.In the bottom of the third, A’s first baseman Nick Kurtz made a nice diving catch to rob Giants’ third baseman Matt Chapman of a base hit. Kurtz then stepped on the bag to complete the unassisted, inning-ending double play.A’s shortstop Jacob Wilson recorded his team’s first hit off Mahle with a one-out single in the fifth inning. Mahle then walked designated hitter Joey Meneses.Right fielder Lawrence Butler crushed a ball right to the Giants second baseman Casey Schmitt, who made the catch for the second out. He tried doubling off Wilson at second base, but his throw was wild. Wilson tried scoring on the errant throw, but he was thrown out at home and appeared to hurt himself trying to evade the tag. That was a super aggressive send, especially considering that Wilson is not the fastest runner. He would have been better served staying at third to give the next batter a chance to get a two-out RBI hit.Jump pitched exceptionally well once again. He completed five scoreless innings, only allowing three hits and one walk, while accumulating a career-high nine strikeouts. Jump likely would have gone deeper into the game had the Giants not fouled off 30 pitches against the A’s young left-hander. According to A’s MLB.com reporter Martin Gallegos, Jump became the third A’s pitcher in the Integration Era (since 1947) to not allow a home run in their first six career starts, joining Tim Conroy (1978-82) and Jim Archer (1961).With two outs in the sixth, Bolte crushed a double for the A’s first extra-base hit of the evening. That was the final batter Mahle faced. The Giants turned to left-hander Sam Hentges to face Kurtz. Mahle pitched well in his first start off the injured list, holding the A’s scoreless over 5 2/3 innings, striking out four and inducing six groundouts and three fly outs.Kurtz swung at the first pitch and drove a deep fly ball to center that died at the warning track where center fielder Jonah Cox made the catch. That was the second straight inning in which the A’s just fell short of b      ​Read More