Athletics Erase Four-Run Deficit With Five-Run Ninth, Stun SF 9-6
The Athletics scored five runs in the ninth inning to turn a 6-4 deficit into a 9-6 victory over San Francisco on June 25. What looked like a Giants win evaporated in a matter of at-bats as three straight singles capped one of the more stunning late-game collapses of the 2026 season.
San Francisco looked like it had this one locked up after a dominant sixth inning. Willy Adames had given the Giants the early lead with a 390-foot homer to left center in the fourth, and when Jung Hoo Lee ripped a triple to center in the sixth — scoring three runs and pushing SF to a 4-2 lead — the win probability swung from 48% to 88% in San Francisco's favor. Victor Bericoto then immediately piled on with a 445-foot blast to center, scoring Lee and making it 6-2. At that point, the Giants appeared to be in full control, and Landen Roupp had done his part with a solid 6.0 innings, allowing just 2 earned runs on 6 hits with 6 strikeouts.
But the Athletics chipped away. A two-run single in the seventh cut the deficit to 6-4, and Jeff McNeil's RBI single in the eighth made it 6-5. Then came the ninth — and it wasn't pretty for San Francisco. Three consecutive singles from Athletics hitters tied the game, pushed ATH ahead 7-6, and then a two-run single to left finished the scoring at 9-6. McNeil went 3-for-4 with 2 runs scored on the night, Lawrence Butler went 2-for-5 with 2 runs scored, and Alika Williams added 2-for-4 with an RBI. The Athletics bullpen was equally impressive: Geoff Hartlieb threw 2.0 scoreless innings and Mason Barnett added a perfect ninth inning to close it out.
The story of the night was the Giants' inability to hold a four-run lead in the final three innings — a collapse that looks all the more painful given how dominant their sixth inning was. Jeffrey Springs started for the Athletics and went 5.1 innings, allowing 3 earned runs on 3 hits with 6 strikeouts, but it was the bullpen that ultimately won this game. For San Francisco, Lee's 3-RBI performance and Bericoto's mammoth home run will be footnotes to a loss that appeared to be a win for the better part of three innings. At the midway point of the 2026 season, this is the kind of game that appears to define a team's character — and right now, the Athletics look like a club that refuses to quit.