Nick Allen homers twice as A’s beat Giants, 8-6

Nick Allen has first career multi-homer game in sweep of Giants

Nick Allen had the first multi-homer game of his career to help the Oakland Athletics to an 8-6 win over the San Francisco Giants.

Things got off to a rough start for Luis Medina as LaMonte Wade singled to start the game. Medina struck out Thairo Estrada and then got Wilmer Flores to line out, but then walked Joe Peterson. J.D. Davis made him pay with a single to right that scored Wade to give the Giants an early 1-0 lead.

The A’s answered back in the home half of the inning as Zack Gelof doubled with two outs and then scored on a triple by Seth Brown.

Medina’s struggles continued in the second as he walked Patrick Bailey to begin the inning. Bailey was erased on a force out by Brandon Crawford, but Luis Matos followed with a single to right to put runners at the corners with one out. Wade scored Crawford with a single to center to put the Giants back in front 2-1.

The see saw continued though as the A’s had an answer. Tyler Soderstrom worked a one out walk off of Alex Cobb. After a strikeout by Shea Langeliers, Nick Allen stepped to the plate and launched his second home run of the season to put Oakland back in front 3-2.

Medina continued to struggle in the third. Joc Pederson reached on a leadoff walk and then moved to second as Davis reached on an error by third baseman Jordan Davis. A walk to Michael Conforto loaded the bases before a single by Bailey tied the game again.

The Giants retook the lead as Davis scored on a ground out by Crawford. Medina struck out Matos and then got Wade to line out to avoid any more damage.

Medina returned to start the fourth, but would exit after a one-out walk to Flores. He was replaced by Sam Long, who got Pederson to fly out and then struck out Davis to strand the runner.

It was a tough outing for Medina who came in pitching well, but struggled with his command. He exited with one out in the fourth having allowed five hits, five walks and four runs, although only three were earned. He struck out three while throwing 88 pitches.

The Giants extended their lead in the fifth. Conforto and Bailey led off the inning with back-to-back singles. Long struck out Crawford for the first out and then gave way to Austin Pruitt who got Matos to pop out on the infield. However, he wouldn’t be able to escape as Wade singled home Conforto to extend the lead to 5-3. Estrada then dropped down a perfectly placed bunt single that scored Bailey to push the deficit to 6-3.

The Athletics again answered back as Allen hit his second homer of the game with one out in the fifth to cut the deficit to 6-4. It was the first multi-homer game of Allen’s career.

Kirby Snead replaced Pruitt and struck out the side in the sixth, before Oakland’s offense got back to work. Brown got things started with a one-out double. He moved to third as Brent Rooker reached on an error by Crawford. A walk to Jordan Diaz loaded the bases for Tyler Soderstrom, who worked a walk of his own to force in a run to make it 6-5. That would bring Langeliers to the plate who delivered a solid single to left that scored Rooker and Diaz to put the A’s back in front 7-6.

Lucas Erceg walked two in the seventh, but struck out Estrada looking to leave them stranded. The A’s added their final run in the seventh as Zack Gelof singled with one out and then stole his sixth base of the season. He moved to third as Conforto misplayed a fly ball from Brown into a double. Tony Kemp followed with a sacrifice fly that scored Gelof to push the lead to 8-6. Angel Felipe struck out two in a perfect eighth while Trevor May closed things out in the ninth to seal the win.

With the win, Oakland improves to 32-80 and completes the two-game sweep. They will continue their homestand Monday when the Texas Rangers arrive for a three-game series.