OAKLAND - One of the craziest rallies you'll see was undone an hour later.
The Giants tied the A's with a wild sequence in the top of the ninth inning, but lost in the bottom of the 11th. Jonathan Lucroy got the third consecutive single off Will Smith and the A's won 4-3 in a game that lived up to the others in this six-game series.
This game appeared to be over when Alan Hanson swung over the top of a Blake Treinen slider with two outs and two strikes in the ninth. But the ball squirted away from Josh Phegley and Hanson reached first. He scored a moment later when Hunter Pence lined a double off first baseman Matt Olson's glove. The A's challenged the play, saying Mark Melancon interfered with a chair, but the umpires did not agree.
The A's loaded the bases in the bottom of the inning, but Reyes Moronta got a double play to end the threat. Two innings later, Lucroy lined a single to the gap in right-center, sending everyone home.
-- The fifth inning, a three-run frame for the A's, was a weird one. Madison Bumgarner walked four in the inning, something he had done in a full start just 14 times in his career. He had just four career five-walk games coming into the night, but walked five of the final seven batters he faced. He twice walked a batter with the bases loaded.
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-- The A's opened up Mount Davis to fans and Brandon Belt hit a homer high enough that they got a good look at it. Belt's solo shot in the fourth had a launch angle of 44 degrees, the highest by a Giants hitter this season. Only 14 other homers in MLB this season were hit with a launch angle that high.
-- For a second straight night, the Giants didn't have a hit the first time through the order. Edwin Jackson held them down Friday night and Cahill did the same Saturday until Belt's blast. Cahill ran out of gas in the sixth, walking two and loading the bases. Ryan Buchter entered and struck out Brandon Crawford to get out of the jam.
-- Ray Black pitched multiple innings for the first time and handled it well. He retired all four A's he faced.
-- The A's announced a crowd of 56,310 human beings, a Coliseum record. That's the largest crowd to see a baseball game this season.
