Gray pitches A’s to 6-1 win over Giants

Starter Sonny Gray pitched seven strong innings to lead the surging Oakland A’s to a 61 victory over the San Francisco Giants.

Gray (93), who picked up the win after allowing just six hits and one run and striking out eight batters at the O.co Coliseum, exited Tuesday night’s game with the A’s on top 41.

All four of those runs came in the bottom of the third inning, when the A’s got a series of runscoring hits from second baseman Nick Punto, center fielder Coco Crisp, left fielder Yoenis Cespedes and catcher Derek Norris.

The Giants’ lone run came on a homer off the bat of left fielder Tyler Colvin in the top of the seventh.

The A’s then added two insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth thanks to first baseman Nate Freiman’s runscoring double and a single off the bat of designated hitter Alberto Callaspo that scored Freiman from third.

Giants’ starter Madison Bumgarner (97) pitched into the eighth inning but took the loss after being roughed up for six runs and 10 hits.

The A’s won their sixth straight game and improved their leagueleading record to 5733, while the Giants fell to 4941 and remained one game behind the divisionleading Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League West.