Athletics return to San Francisco Bay Area to face Giants

The Athletics (38-40) return to the Bay Area for just the second time in regular-season action when they open a three-game interleague series in San Francisco against the Giants (31-46) on Tuesday night.

Having completed their 57th and final season in Oakland in 2024, the A's were swept by the host Giants from May 16-18 in 2025 and dropped two of three in their current home, West Sacramento, July 4-6. The Giants took two of three in the teams' first meeting this season, May 15-17, also in West Sacramento.

Only one of Tuesday's scheduled starters -- right-hander Aaron Civale (5-3, 4.91) for the A's and lefty Robbie Ray (5-6, 4.07) for the Giants -- has participated in one of the reunion games.

Civale was the winning pitcher in the A's 5-2 triumph in the opener of the home series in May, when he allowed two runs in five innings. He's 4-1 with a 2.30 ERA in six career starts against the Giants.

Ray, meanwhile, hasn't seen the A's since July 2024 during a 5-2 home loss. He will be making his ninth career start against them, having gone 2-3 with a 3.23 ERA in the first eight.

Each team enters the series looking to bounce back.

The A's had a chance to take a 3-1 home-series win over the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday before watching relievers Hogan Harris and Elvis Alvarado each give up a late home run that turned a 7-4 lead into a 9-7 defeat.

The sour ending spoiled the A's debut of Joey Meneses, who went 1-for-3 with an RBI after earning a promotion from Triple-A Las Vegas, where he was hitting .348.

He is expected to get most of his at-bats against left-handed pitchers, including the Giants' Ray, as a DH and a first baseman.

"Joey's earned this opportunity," A's manager Mark Kotsay told the media over the weekend. "He had a heck of a first half in Vegas as probably the best performer on that club. We've got a stretch where we might see six lefties in nine games. For Joey, that's a good run of playing time, and it gives us a chance to get (Nick) Kurtz off his feet and use Kurtz in that DH spot as well."

On the other side of the country, the Giants saw a promising trip get away from them with three consecutive losses to the host Marlins after San Francisco swept a pair in Atlanta.

Sunday's 2-1 defeat ended in frustration when Rafael Devers was reluctant to leave the field for a pinch-runner after leading off the ninth inning with a walk.

Giants manager Tony Vitello downplayed the incident afterward.

"He was signaling over to us that he's good to run," Vitello explained to reporters, noting that Devers had been dealing with a sore leg during the trip. "He wants to stay in the game ... (but) once we announced the move, the move is made. So, just going with what our best effort is to win the game.

"I don't have a problem with Rafi. ... In a perfect world, like to see (pinch-runner Jonah) Cox go (steal second base) ... but the very least, if you go down, you go down swinging with your fastest guy over there."

--Field Level Media