Athletics make first return to Bay Area to face Giants

The Athletics and Giants meet as Northern California -- rather than Bay Area -- rivals for the first time when the early-season surprises open a three-game interleague series in San Francisco on Friday night.

Giants right-hander Logan Webb (4-3, 2.60 ERA) is slated to throw the opening pitch in the Athletics' first return to the Bay Area since beginning a scheduled three-year layover upstate in West Sacramento.

A's lefty JP Sears (4-2, 2.80 ERA) will get the start in the reunion of 1989 World Series combatants.

Both teams are in significantly better shape in the standings than they were when they last met in an Oakland-San Francisco matchup last August. The teams split last year's four-game series, each winning one on the other's side of the San Francisco Bay.

The Giants reached the .500 mark by beating the A's 4-2 last Aug. 18 in an uphill pursuit of playoff contention. They didn't make it, finishing in fourth place in the National League West, 18 games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Despite having lost five of six, the Giants will take the field this time only four games behind the first-place Dodgers.

Webb, a 28-year-old native of the Sacramento suburb of Rocklin, has started six times against the A's in his career, going 2-2 with a 4.19 ERA.

Webb expects many of the same diehard A's fans to make the trek across the Bay Bridge as they always did.

"You're always going to hear 'Let's Go Oakland' chants," he predicted. "I think that's kind of the way it's going to be for a while."

Whether it be Oakland, West Sacramento or Las Vegas, Giants skipper Bob Melvin will always remember this weekend's visitors as the franchise he managed for 11 years and 853 wins. He sees the 2025 edition as another contender in the making.

"They have a really good team, and especially some of the young hitters that they brought to the big leagues," he said. "I've talked to some of the managers who have played against them. They're a handful."

That could also be said of Sears, who has faced the Giants twice (both times last year) and was lights-out in each contest. He went 1-0 in those games, allowing just one run and 10 hits while striking out 18 and walking one in 14 2/3 innings.

The A's flew into the Bay Area after completing a three-game road series against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Thursday night. Oakland dropped the final two games of the series 9-3 and 19-2 after shocking the defending champs 11-1 on Tuesday.

Despite the series defeat, the A's fell only to 22-22, a .500 mark that is far higher than the .427 record they possessed when they left San Francisco last August.

The consecutive drubbings in Los Angeles were the 10th and 11th times this season the A's lost by six or more runs. They have gone 6-4 in the following game, something not lost on manager Mark Kotsay on the eve of seeing a new opponent on Friday.

"We've had losses like this this year and we've bounced back," he said after the shellacking on Thursday, "so this is a night where we turn the page."

--Field Level Media