Giantslate collapse vs Athletics keeps them from first sweep of season

SAN FRANCISCO — Landen Roupp was in line for his first win since April 26 and the Giants were positioned to complete their very first sweep of the season.It all fell apart, like so much else this season, thanks to their bullpen.Roupp limited the Athletics to two runs over six innings and Lee delivered a bases-clearing triple that, combined with Victor Bericoto’s two-run blast that followed, gave San Francisco a four-run lead.The problem was that they needed the bullpen to protect it for three innings.Ryan Walker, Erik Miller and Dylan Smith allowed the A’s to cut into the lead in the seventh and eighth innings, and it evaporated once and for all in the ninth against closer Caleb Kilian.The result: a 9-6 loss in the series finale.A 26th series they failed to sweep.

And a 10th consecutive start where Roupp failed to earn a win. The A’s scored in each of the final three innings, totaling seven runs against the Giants’ bullpen.Kilian, named the closer earlier this month, never recovered after speedy leadoff man Henry Bolte beat out an infield single to the opposite side that Casey Schmitt was shaded.A wild pitch put the potential tying run on second base with nobody out, but Kilian retired Nick Kurtz and Shea Langeliers to make it through the meatiest part of the A’s order. Then, he issued a two-out walk to Tyler Sodorstrom and didn’t record another out.Jonah Heim, Lawrence Butler and Max Muncy singled home four runs off Kilian before Matt Gage finally recorded the third out of the inning, with a one-run lead now a three-run deficit.The blown save was Kilian’s second in seven chances, the Giants’ 10th as a team in 26 save opportunities and San Francisco’s fifth loss in 34 games it has led after eight innings.The Giants, it turns out, will have to wait even longer to break out the brooms.Roupp turned in his second consecutive quality start, limiting the A’s to two runs over six innings with six strikeouts to only one walk, but will still have to ...