A's President Welcomes San Francisco Fans To Jump On Bandwagon After Giants 9th Inning Collapse
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- It's always been a heated cross-bay rivalry, but Oakland team president Dave Kaval may have elevated it to new heights with a social media posting after the Francisco Giants ninth-inning collapse allowed the A's to escape with a 8-7 10th inning victory Friday night.
Kaval is among the most socially media active of all Major League team officials so it wasn't unusual for him to be on Twitter interacting with A's fans during Friday night's game. Especially since fans have been prohibited from attending games during the COVID-19 pandemic.
He had been mostly silent as Giants starter Johnny Cueto dominated the Oakland batting order through seven innings. The Giants entered the 9th inning leading 7-2. The game appeared to be over.
Oakland hadn't rallied from such a late deficit since July 15, 1952, according to STATS. The Giants hadn't lost after leading by five or more runs in the ninth inning or latter since June 25, 1929.
Then it all unraveled and Kaval woke up on Twitter.
The A's pulled to within 7-3 when a fielding blunder and a hit batter loaded the bases with two outs for Stephen Piscotty. The Bay Area native quickly shifted the momentum with one swing as he sent an 0-1 slider from Trevor Gott into Oracle Park's left-field bleachers.
"It's pretty cool," Piscotty said. "It's a weird game, a crazy game. You find yourself in those situations sometimes."
Then Mark Canha's sacrifice fly put Oakland on top for good in the 10th.
With his final post of the night, Kaval rubbed a good deal of salt into the Giants fans wound.
