Tyler Mahle shines, Giants walk off As with two homers in ninth

Where has this Tyler Mahle been?The woeful Giants walked off the A’s, 2-1, with two homers in the ninth, but don’t let that distract you from the biggest development of a foggy Wednesday evening at Oracle Park.Mahle looked like a totally different pitcher than the one that owned a 1-7 record and 6.04 ERA before a monthlong stint on the injured list with a hamstring strain.Even operating on a pitch limit in his first start back, Mahle needed only 70 to stymie the A’s for 5 ⅔ scoreless innings.He didn’t allow a hit until the fourth inning, limited the A’s to two total and only put on two other batters via bases on balls.

He found the strike zone 44 times, a good sign after throwing strikes on only 33 of his 63 pitches in his one rehab start while walking five.Before the game, manager Tony Vitello singled out two keys to turning Mahle’s suboptimal start to his Giants tenure around upon his return to the starting rotation.No.1 Throwing strikes.No.2 Getting healthy.A bit of evidence for the latter: Mahle’s average fastball velocity of 93.2 mph, up 1.2 notches from before the injury,That was still only enough to match A’s starter Gage Jump, who fanned nine Giants and stranded three hits and a walk over five scoreless innings.

Jung Hoo Lee was responsible for two of the Giants’ four hits through eight innings and about their only competitive at-bats, as well as a sensational catch crashing into the chainlink fencing in right field to end the top of the ninth.The catch proved critical, as it came with runners on and likely prevented the A’s from padding what was a 1-0 lead.That kept the Giants within two swings going into the bottom half.Rafael Devers delivered one to begin the inning against Elvis Alvarado, and Victor Bericoto provided the second and the walk off blast.

Both players knew theirs were gone off the bat.Devers admired his 416-foot blast to center, but it was no match for Bericoto’s: a 445-foot tank that left his bat at 108.7 mph.Ent...