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
