Robbie Ray threw eight innings of two-hit ball, Jung Hoo Lee continued his hot hitting with a home run and the San Francisco Giants opened a three-game home series with a 3-1 victory over the Athletics on Tuesday night.
Casey Schmitt and Willy Adames chipped in with a pair of hits apiece for the Giants, who used a 9-3 advantage in hits to snap a three-game losing streak.
Ray (6-6) pitched into the eighth inning for just the second time this season. The other time occurred when he was used as a bulk-innings reliever in his last outing in Atlanta, entering in the second inning and shutting out the Braves one out into the eighth.
The only run the A’s mustered against the veteran left-hander was unearned, crossing in the third when Lee, playing right field, dropped a Colby Thomas flyball for a two-base error, setting up an RBI single by Max Muncy.
The A’s never got another baserunner past first base during Ray’s 102-pitch effort. He finished with six strikeouts and four walks.
Lee gave his pitcher a lead he never relinquished with his fifth homer of the season in the second inning. He added a single in his next at-bat, giving him multiple hits in 13 of his last 22 games.
The Giants tacked on a second run in the inning against A’s starter Aaron Civale (5-4) when Adames doubled and scored on a single by Matt Chapman.
Civale was pulled after four innings, having allowed two runs and six hits. He struck out five.
The hosts added an insurance run in the seventh when Rafael Devers singled home Bryce Eldridge, who had walked.
Down 3-1, the A’s threatened against Giants closer Caleb Kilian in the ninth, getting the potential tying runs on base via a one-out single by Tyler Soderstrom and a two-out walk to pinch-hitter Lawrence Butler.
But Kilian struck out Henry Bolte to nail down his fifth save and the Giants’ third win in four meetings with their former rivals this season.
Soderstrom finished with two of the A’s three hits, a pair of singles. The visitors did not record an extra-base hit in dropping their third straight.
