Giants beat A’s 5-4, win Bay Bridge Series

OAKLAND, Calif. Bruce Bochy couldn’t resist the chance to play a joke on bench coach Ron Wotus. He handed him a lineup card Sunday morning without Jarrett Parker’s name on it.

The (censored) reaction?

“C’mon,” Wotus said. “You’re messing with me.”

A day after Parker hit three homers and drove in seven runs, he was back in the lineup with a promotion from eighth to seventh, too. The A’s kept him grounded this time, but the Giants took the series with a 5-4 victory at the Coliseum.

Yes, it’s true: the Giants won a one-run game. They hadn’t done that since Aug. 28 against the Cardinals. Since the beginning of August, the Giants were 1-15 in games decided by one run.

They used three sacrifice flies and a pair of RBI singles to build a lead, Chris Heston won his first start since July 27 and a flagging bullpen held onto the last bit of their advantage.

The Giants took two of three from the A’s at the Coliseum and won five of six in the Bay Bridge season series. They also ensured they would stave off elimination in the NL West, where the Dodgers held a magic number of two.

That’s good or bad, depending on your point of view. It means the Dodgers can clinch at AT&T Park, and spill bubbly on their archrivals’ home soil, by winning just once in the four-game series that begins Monday.

Even if the Giants were to sweep that series, they’d have to win the following three games at home against the Colorado Rockies and then get help from the Padres in their final series at Dodger Stadium.

For all sane purposes, this final Giants homestand will be more about the future, and they received a solid glimpse of it on the other side of the bay. Parker had two singles and drew a walk while seeing a steady supply of breaking balls, finishing a series in which he went 6 for 11 with four homers.

He wasn’t the only Giants rookie to feast on A’s pitching. Kelby Tomlinson (7 for 16), Mac Williamson (5 for 11), Matt Duffy (4 for 15) and Trevor Brown (4 for 9) combined to hit .392 over the three games. Williamson and Brown collected sacrifice flies, and Tomlinson had a two-out, RBI single to help the Giants build a 5-0 lead after three innings.

Heston was perfect the first time through the A’s lineup and he ended up with his backside in the dirt after covering first base on a double play that ended the fourth.

He deserved a better fate in the fifth, when he got Billy Burns to pop up a well located curveball with two outs and two on base. But center fielder Angel Pagan slowed up and did not call off shortstop Brandon Crawford, who couldn’t make an over-the-shoulder basket catch as two runs scored.

Heston was effective for long enough to snap a nine-start winless streak, but he didn’t retire a batter in the sixth to carry on a second-half trend. In his first 20 assignments, the rookie right-hander was able to complete seven innings nine times and average 6 1/3 per start while posting a 3.14 ERA. In 10 assignments since then, he has a 4.88 ERA, has completed six innings just once and is averaging just more than 4 ?2/3 innings per start.

Josh Reddick singled to start the sixth and Max Muncy followed with a triple that knocked Heston from the game. The Giants were fortunate that the left field wall didn’t also knock Parker from the game after he slammed into it while trying to make the catch.

George Kontos allowed an RBI single to Stephen Vogt as the A’s cut the Giants’ lead to 5-4.

But for once, the equalizer never came. Cory Gearrin and Javier Lopez each retired a batter in the seventh, Hunter Strickland survived a warning-track out from Billy Butler in the eighth and Santiago Casilla did the same with Brett Lawrie in the ninth.

Coco Crisp drew a two-out pinch walk before Casilla struck out Burns to record his 10th consecutive save conversion and his 37th in 42 opportunities.

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