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Wilmer Flores not only hit three home runs and drove in eight runs Friday night in the biggest game of his 13-year big-league career, but he gave a shout-out to the Oakland A’s.
“Tonight was fun,” he said after leading the Giants to a 9-1 laugher over the A’s at Oracle Park. “It was a big crowd. It feels like every time we play Oakland, it’s a big crowd, so it’s always fun.”
Every time you play Oakland, Wilmer?
“Um … Sacramento. Sacramento,” he said. “It’ll always be Oakland for me.”
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Touché.
Flores has been wowing Giants fans all season. He has had an anemic WAR and low OPS, but those stats hardly matter because he’s hitting .395 (17-for-43) with runners in scoring position and is tied with Aaron Judge for the most RBIs in the majors (41) despite collecting 28 fewer hits (70-42).
Friday, he won points with A’s fans, too, courtesy of his Oakland comment.
This was the opener of the Bay Bridge Series … er, the I-80 Series … the NorCal Series … or whatever this Giants-A’s matchup that no longer has the same significance is called.
For 57 years, the teams co-existed in the Bay Area. For 28 years, they played interleague games that were relevant because of a crossbay rivalry that created territorial pride within counties, towns and families. That’s gone because A’s owner John Fisher took the team from Oakland, gut-punching a fan base and turning the Bay Area into a one-team market.
The highly respected Flores has participated in these Giants-A’s matches since 2020, but never had anything close to this kind of performance. In fact, he called this one “my favorite” out of 1,256, and of course it was. He became the first right-handed batter with three homers at Second and King since the Dodgers’ Kevin Elster in the park’s very first game in 2000.
“I’m not trying to hit homers,” Flores said, genuinely. “But when it happens, it’s kind of cool. I’ve always thought about hitting three homers. I’ve hit two in games, but hitting three, a lot of things have to go right.”
Flores homered against three different pitchers, launching a third-inning grand slam off lefty JP Sears (concluding a 10-pitch at-bat), hitting a sixth-inning three-run homer off Michel Otañez, and then blasting an eighth-inning solo shot off Anthony Maldonado, all on fastballs across the plate. For a guy who has driven in a lot of runs with so-so exit velocity, he smoked the ball on each swing: 106.8 mph, 99.6 mph and 99.3 mph.
“A true professional, my favorite player,” said Logan Webb, who wasn’t the headline despite pitching one of his finest games of the season and reaching eight innings for the first time. “I’m so happy for him.”
Making Friday’s story more significant was the popular sentiment over the winter that the 33-year-old Flores wouldn’t make the team after his dreadful, injury-marred 2024. The narrative has changed. Now the Giants couldn’t imagine this season without him.
“I feel I have a lot to give still to the game,” he said.
This is MLB’s new Rivalry Weekend. Featured matchups include Dodgers-Angels, Cubs-White Sox, Yankees-Mets, Astros-Rangers. Cardinals-Royals, Marlins-Rays etc. Padres-Mariners is a weird one. So is Braves-Red Sox.
Giants-A’s? Doesn’t have the cachet it once had. There were a good number of spirited A’s fans along with some “SELL” shirts and “let’s go Oakland” chants, like usual, but not nearly as much green was spotted as previous Giants-A’s games at Oracle Park.
The Giants tried to welcome A’s fans in a number of ways. They hung a large “415 (hearts) 510” sign in the 415 section in center field and hosted owners of the independent Oakland Ballers, who appeared on the scoreboard as the PA announcer said, “Thank you for keeping baseball alive in Oakland.”
On one hand, it was a nice olive branch. On the other hand, cynical A’s fans didn’t appreciate the gestures, knowing Giants ownership supported the relocation as part of MLB’s 30-0 vote and also put up a territorial-rights road block when the A’s tried to move to San Jose.
It’s interesting that the A’s, who played at Dodger Stadium Thursday night, flew to Oakland (out of habit?) and bussed to San Francisco to check into their hotel. General manager David Forst said he believes the rivalry will remain for a while because of generations of fans in place, “but it’s definitely different. We’re not right across the bay. As far as (A’s players) are concerned, this is part of a road trip.”
The A’s showed up at Oracle Park with nothing but “Athletics” across the front of the uniforms, not acknowledging the state capital enough to stitch their (temporary) home city across their chests, as other teams do when going on the road.
It shouldn’t be surprising. The A’s are one of just two teams that have rejected the city connect uniforms. The Yankees are one, because they’ve got too much pride in their tradition, history, and pinstripes. And the A’s, because they refuse to connect with any city, except Las Vegas.
Friday, Flores connected with both San Francisco and Oakland while experiencing the game of his life.