Giants collapse in the ninth inning, lose five-run deficit in crushing defeat to A’s

The Giants and A's made Oracle Park look small on a hot evening along the shores of McCovey Cove.

SAN FRANCISCO — The last-place San Francisco Giants dominated the first-place Oakland A’s for eight innings at Oracle Park on Friday, smacking three home runs and cruising to a five-run advantage thanks to a smooth outing from starter Johnny Cueto.

Baseball games, of course, don’t end after eight innings.

Another jaw-dropping defensive mistake from a Giants defense that has made dozens in the first three weeks of the season gave life to an Oakland rally before A’s right fielder Stephen Piscotty clubbed a game-tying grand slam in the top of the ninth against Giants closer Trevor Gott.

With a new extra-inning rule in effect, the A’s took their first lead of the game without recording a 10th inning hit thanks to a Mark Canha sacrifice fly and held on to deliver the Giants a crushing 8-7 defeat after closer Liam Hendriks shut down San Francisco’s offense.

The loss marked the Giants’ first with a lead of five runs or more in the ninth inning since June 25, 1929 when they fell to the Brooklyn Dodgers.

“The processing happens tonight,” Kapler said. “The after-action review, the rewatching the game in your mind happens tonight. We talk about it and figure out ways to get better for tomorrow and things that we could have done differently and look at it from a how can we raise the bar for ourselves perspective.”

With one on, one out and one already in thanks to Matt Olson’s solo home run into the left center field bullpen in the top of the ninth, Gott induced a grounder to first baseman Wilmer Flores that could have turned into a game-ending double play ball off the bat of left fielder Robbie Grossman.

Flores initially jogged toward first base for a force out, but made a last-second pivot and spun toward second in a misguided effort to get the lead runner. Shortstop Brandon Crawford appeared surprised by Flores’ throw as he took his foot off the base while opting to tag A’s center fielder Mark Canha.

“It was an indecision. That was on me,” Flores said. “I put Crawford in that situation, he didn’t know if I stepped on the base or not. I thought I was closer to the base, but I was not.”

On a play where both Grossman and Canha were oh-so-close to being out, a replay review showed both were safe. Gott proceeded to hit the next batter, A’s designated hitter Khris Davis, in a two-strike count before Piscotty came to the plate.

If cardboard cutouts could talk, the 10,000-plus at Oracle Park would have been silenced when Piscotty’s flyball left the bat.

“We were ahead the whole game,” Flores said. “You don’t want that to happen in the ninth inning.”

The fact Gott was in the game in the bottom of the ninth and Brandon Belt, the team’s best defender at first base, was not were calls made by first-year manager Gabe Kapler, who has taken his fair share of criticism for several late losses the Giants have suffered this season.

“The velocity was there, the command wasn’t,” Kapler said of Gott. “He came out with all the intensity that he usually does. He came out with all of the aggressiveness that he usually does.”

It’s unusual for a team to use its closer with a five-run lead in the ninth inning, but probably even more surprising that the Giants’ best defensive unit wasn’t on the field. Kapler had substituted Crawford in as a defensive replacement earlier in the game, but Belt remained on the bench because his manager said Belt is dealing with left calf soreness and right heel soreness and could have used a full day off.

“I trust Wilmer Flores at first base to make plays, that’s his best position, and I’d do everything possible to get Brandon Belt a day,” Kapler said.

The late-game miscues have become all-too-common for the Giants this season, and they were particularly disappointing for the club on Friday after Opening Day starter Johnny Cueto outdueled Oakland A’s rookie phenom Jesús Luzardo.

Cueto became the first Giants starter to top 100 pitches this season with seven innings of two-run ball against a tough Oakland lineup. After carrying a no-hitter into the bottom of the sixth inning at Dodger Stadium last weekend, Cueto brought a one-hitter into the top of the seventh on Friday at Oracle Park.

On a rare 80-plus degree night along the shores of McCovey Cove, the pitcher-friendly Oracle Park wasn’t so kind to Luzardo as he gave up home runs to Giants veterans Evan Longoria and Hunter Pence.

Longoria’s first-inning home run traveled 400 feet out to left center field and gave the Giants a 1-0 lead before Pence clobbered a 406-foot, three-run homer into the new visitor’s bullpen beyond the right center field wall in the third inning.

After starting the season 2-for-32 at the plate, Pence hit a three-run home run for the second time this week as his pinch-hit blast in Houston on Tuesday sparked a 7-6 come-from-behind win over the Astros.

Longoria’s solo shot gave the Giants an early jolt against Luzardo but it was his two-run single with the bases loaded in the fourth that brought an early end to the rookie left-hander’s evening.

Longoria’s single cut through the left side of the infield at 99.2 miles per hour, marking the seventh hardest-hit ball the Giants had in 3 1/3 innings against Oakland’s starter. The Giants finished the night with a season-high nine balls with exit velocities above 100 miles per hour, besting their previous high of eight set on July 29 against the Padres.

A 6-0 cushion provided Cueto with plenty of breathing room against a tough A’s lineup, but the Dominican Republic native didn’t need much of it. A’s right fielder Stephen Piscotty hit a single in the third inning, but that was all the damage Oakland did until Mark Canha singled and Robbie Grossman tripled in the top of the seventh.

Cueto received a mound visit from Kapler after giving up the triple, but appeared to convince his manager he could finish off the inning and ultimately did so despite giving up a RBI groundout.

The 104 pitches Cueto threw Friday marked his most in a start since he tossed 105 over 6 2/3 innings in a 4-3 win over the Colorado Rockies on September 19, 2017.

After Tony Watson needed just seven pitches to get through the eighth inning, outfielder Mike Yastrzemski hit his team-leading fifth home run of the season over the left field wall against A’s lefty T.J. McFarland. The solo home run marked Yastrzemski’s fourth homer with two strikes this season, tying him with Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto for the most in the majors.

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