A’s Sweep Giants, Reclaim “The Bridge”

Nick Allen (right) celebrates after hitting a solo home run against the Giants. (AP Photo/ Godofredo A. Vasquez)

The A’s have not had much to celebrate this year, but at least they were able to earn some hardware by winning the annual Bay Bridge Series.

The Oakland Athletics and San Francisco Giants have been battling for control of the Bay Area since the iconic 1989 World Series in which the Loma Prieta earthquake rocked the bay. The A’s went on to sweep that series.

In their short two game set at the coliseum, the A’s once again swept the Giants and reclaimed “The Bridge”.

Former A’s manager Bob Melvin held up the Bridge trophy in celebration after winning it for the first time.

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NBC Sports, who broadcasts locally for both the A’s and the Giants, established the trophy in 2018 to give a physical prize to the winner of the season series, and created a tradition in the process. Since many of these series’ end in a draw, such as this year’s 2-2 result, the winner of the final game is awarded the tiebreaker.

Oakland won the inaugural trophy, as well as winning the series in 2020. The Giants won the trophy in 2019, 2021, and 2022. With the A’s having a historically bad season, this year’s series was shaping up to be the least competitive yet.

After suffering two losses at Oracle park to give the Giants a commanding 2-0 lead in the series, the A’s fought to a gutsy 2-1 win on Saturday. Both Luis Medina and Alex Cobb had shaky starts, with the Giants leading 6-3 going in to the top of the fifth.

From then on, the A’s bats came alive as the bullpen shut San Francisco down to give the A’s an improbable victory.