On the eve of the 2011 MLB season the San Francisco Giants picked up where they left off the year before, with a torturous 2 out rally in the bottom of the ninth to beat their Bay Area rivals the Oakland A’s by a score of 2-1. With the win the Giants effectively swept the Bay Bridge exhibition series with the A’s, but it went down to the wire to do so.
The Giants trailed 1-0 heading into the bottom of the ninth, and with two outs Mike Fontenot hit a single off of A’s reliever Bobby Cramer, then advanced to second on a failed pickoff attempt. Eli Whiteside then stepped in and smacked a single as well, scoring Fontenot and moving to second on another errant throw. Third string catcher Chris Stewart batted in place of Marc Kroon, hitting a line drive on the second pitch he saw, scoring Whiteside and ending the game in true Giants fashion. What a way to end the Spring for the G-Men.
Madison Bumgarner got the start for the GIants and lasted for 6 innings with only four hits, one run, 3 walks and 6 strikeouts. From there Javier Lopez, Ryan Vogelsong and Marc Kroon finished out the game allowing only two combined hits and no runs. Kroon was given the win, his second ever in a major league uniform.
And with the end of another exciting spring of Giants baseball, we turn the page to the regular season tomorrow as the team heads down to Los Angeles to begin their title defense against the rival Dodgers. CSN Bay Area will have 5 plus hours of Giants coverage before and after the game tomorrow, while the game itself will be televised on ESPN at 5:00 p.m. as part of their Opening Day triple header of games. It’s finally here people, it’s finally here.