A's clinch playoff berth win win over Giants, Mariners loss

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — The Oakland Athletics clinched their third straight playoff berth with Seattle's loss to San Diego and a 6-0 win against the San Francisco Giants on Friday night, highlighted by Matt Olson's three-run homer.

Oakland is in the playoffs for the sixth time in nine seasons and now shifts its attention to an AL West crown, which could be locked up Saturday. The A's haven't captured the division since 2013, winning 97 games each of the past two seasons to finish in second place behind Houston and before losing the AL Wild Card Game both years.

Olson connected in the third inning of a balanced offensive attack for the A’s in the opener of the second round of the 2020 Bay Bridge Series.

Jake Lamb's RBI single in the first staked Oakland starter Chris Bassitt (4-2) to a quick lead. The right-hander struck out seven over 6 2/3 innings to win his third straight start.

Tommy La Stella and Marcus Semien also singled in runs for the A's, who finally got a day off Thursday following a grueling stretch with 16 games in 13 days with three doubleheaders.

San Francisco hardly had to travel far to continue its road trip. The Giants were scheduled for games in Seattle earlier this week but smoke from all the West Coast wildfires created dangerous air quality and the clubs instead played at Oracle Park in San Francisco on Wednesday and Thursday.

“It's nice that everybody got to sleep in their own beds last night,” Giants manager Gabe Kapler said, noting he and some players drove themselves to the Coliseum rather than riding a team bus. “Considering that these are road games and we did just get to play two road games in our ballpark, there have been a lot of challenges throughout this season and so those are two things that we can point to as positives and...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/A-s-clinch-playoff-berth-win-win-over-Giants-15579753.php