Giants Begin Home-and-Home Series With A’s

Monday sees the Giants and A’s meet for the first time this season.

The San Francisco Giants make the short journey across the bay Monday for a first meeting of the season with arch rivals the Oakland Athletics.

The two sides will meet on a Memorial Day filled with interleague action. First pitch is scheduled for shortly after 4:05 pm ET.

The Giants and A’s will play two games at O.co Coliseum (Monday and Tuesday) before heading back to San Francisco for a pair at AT&T Park (Wednesday and Thursday). After that, the two teams will not meet again this season, unless we see a repeat of the 1989 World Series.

Monday Afternoon Preview

Currently sharing the NL West lead with Arizona, San Francisco (28-22, 9-13 road) makes the trip across the bay as winners of four of the last six.

The Giants scored a pair of series victories at home against the Washington Nationals and Colorado Rockies this past week. With a 19-9 record at AT& T Park, the Giants have been good at home, but things have looked markedly different on the road.

The Giants are 1-5 in the last six road games, having been swept in a two game set by the Toronto Blue Jays before struggling in the Mile High City against the Rockies. That being said, Bruce Bochy’s side has taken series wins against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago Cubs, and Arizona Diamondbacks this season, so all is not lost just yet.

Oakland (28-23, 13-10 home) enters the game having won three games and three straight series. The Kansas City Royals, Texas Rangers, and Houston Astros have all fell to the A’s over the past 10 days or so, which has resulted in the Bay Area side closing the gap at the top of the AL West. The A’s are currently 4.5 games back of the Rangers.

Oakland holds a narrow 47-45 lead over Oakland since interleague play was introduced in 1997.

Since Bruce Bochy took to the helm in San Francisco back in 2007, the Giants and A’s are tied 18-18 in games played. Oakland has not won the season head-to-head since 2008 though. The Giants were 4-2 against the A’s last season.

San Francisco is 0-2 in interleague play so far this season. Oakland will be playing in its first interleague game of the season on Monday afternoon.

Madison Bumgarner will look to lead the Giants to victory over their Bay Bridge rivals.

Starting Pitchers

San Francisco will send Madison Bumgarner (4-2, 2.89 ERA) to the mound Monday afternoon.

Bumgarner began the season with three straight wins before being involved in three decision-less one-run games. Lately the leftie has lost two of his last three decisions, including a rough outing in Colorado that saw him give up nine runs (seven earned), including a grand slam, in 4 1/3 innings against the Rockies.

Last time out (May 22), Bumgarner went seven innings, recording a No Decision against the Washington Nationals at AT&T Park. He gave up one run on four hits.

Bumgarner is 1-0 in his career against Oakland, recording the win in a 9-8 victory in Oakland last season (June 23).

Oakland will start Dan Straily (2-2, 5.73 ERA). Straily recorded a win in his last outing (May 21), recording a no-hitter through seven innings against the Rangers. The 1-0 win ended with the right-hander striking out five.

Prior to that game, Straily had dropped two decisions in a row. Straily is 4-3 (with six No Decisions) in his young career and has yet to record a win at O.co Coliseum. Monday will mark his first game against the Giants.

Betting Lines

San Francisco (-124) opened as the favorite over Oakland (+114) on the moneyline.

This season, the Giants are currently $203 (-$485 road) in the moneyline standings compared to the A’s at $507 ($108 home). For further information, check out the BettingSports MLB Standings.

The total opened at 7 1/2 runs, with the over (-115) marginally favored over the under (-105).

Both San Francisco (28-20-2) and Oakland (32-19-0) have favored the over this season.

Winners of eight of the last 10, Oakland appears to be returning to the form that made it such a huge surprise last season.

Notes

Tuesday’s game (10:05 pm ET) at O.co Coliseum sees Michael Kickham (0-0, 0.00 ERA) make his first Major League appearance, taking to the mound for the Giants. Kirkham was 3-4, 4.33 ERA with the Fresno Grizzlies (Triple-A) this season. He’ll be up against a struggling Jarrod Parker (2-6, 5.76 ERA).

Wednesday (10:05 pm ET) sees the series switch to AT&T Park. Tim Lincecum (3-4, 4.75 ERA) – a loser in four of his last five decisions – will start for the Giants against Oakland’s Tommy Milone (4-5, 3.80 ERA). Milone recorded a win against Kansas City on May 18, snapping a five-game losing streak.

The two sides meet for the final time this week in a getaway game on Thursday (3:45 pm ET). Barry Zito (3-3, 4.13 ERA) – looking for a first win since Apr. 21 – will start for the Giants. Winner of three of his last four decisions, A.J. Griffin (5-3, 3.84 ERA) goes for the A’s.

At the conclusion of this home-and-home series, San Francisco hits the road for a three-game set with the St. Louis Cardinals. Oakland heads back across the bay for a weekend home series against the Chicago White Sox.

During Interleague play this season, the National League is 28-31 against the American League. The NL trails the AL 10-6 in series won during that span, with six series ending tied.