SF Giants bullpen melts down again, blows four-run lead to Athletics to prevent first series sweep

Justice delos Santos, The Mercury News on Jun 25, 2026

Published in Baseball

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SAN FRANCISCO — If the Giants are going to claw their way out of the massive hole they’ve dug for themselves, they’re going to need to win a lot of baseball games in a very short time. Recording a sweep would certainly help.

The team’s troublesome bullpen let another opportunity slip away.

San Francisco’s relievers allowed seven runs over the final three innings, the crescendo being when closer Caleb Kilian allowed four runs in the top of the ninth. A 6-2 lead and potential sweep turned into an absolute gutpunch of a 9-6 loss to the A’s on Thursday afternoon at Oracle Park.

Kilian entered in the top of the ninth inning to protect a 6-5 lead and was one out away from recording a save when the A’s Jonah Heim snuck an opposite-field single past the outstretched dive of third baseman Matt Chapman. Henry Bolte scored the tying run, and the disaster was just getting started.

Lawrence Butler followed Heim with an RBI single, giving the A’s a one-run lead, then Max Muncy expanded the green and gold’s advantage to 9-6 on a two-run bloop single.

Victor Bericoto, wearing a “VZ” on the side of his cap after multiple devastating earthquakes struck his native Venezuela on Wednesday, became the first Giant since Dusty Rhodes in 1953 to record a home run and outfield assist in consecutive games

Before Bericoto’s two-run blast in the sixth, right fielder Jung Hoo Lee continued making his case for his first All-Star appearance with a bases-clearing, two-out triple. The Athletics’ Butler went all out to field Lee’s fading line drive but couldn’t corral the ball on the dive, allowing three runs to score.

Landen Roupp made his first start at Oracle Park since the Pride Night controversy on June 12, when he wrote a Bible verse on the team’s special Pride caps. He received a smattering of boos during introductions, then Roupp turned in a second straight quality start, allowing two earned runs over six innings with six strikeouts to one walk.

Roupp helped his own cause by making a nifty play to turn two in the sixth, spearing a comebacker behind his back before firing to shortstop Willy Adames to kick-start a 1-6-3 double play. The right-hander also got an assist from Bericoto, who recorded his second outfield assist in the last two days by firing a 94.2 mph seed to second base to throw out Tyler Soderstrom.

Worth noting

— Second baseman Luis Arraez was out of the starting lineup for a second straight game after fouling a ball off his foot on Tuesday.

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