West bracket: 1973 Giants defeat 1973 A's in six games

Game One: A's 2, Giants 0
WP: Hunter (4-1)
LP: Bryant (0-4)
HR: Jackson (3)

Game Two: Giants 4, A's 1
WP: Marichal (2-0)
LP: Holtzman (2-2)
Save: Moffitt (3)
HR: Matthews (2)

Game Three: A's 9, Giants 6
WP: Blue (2-0)
LP: Bradley (3-1)
Save: Knowles (2)
HR: Bonds (3)

Game Four: Giants 3, A's 0
WP: Barr (3-1)
LP: Odom (0-2)
Save: Sosa (3)

Game Five: Giants 2, A's 1
WP: Bryant (1-4)
LP: Hamilton (0-1)
HR: Jackson (4)

Game Six: Giants 3, A's 1
WP: Marichal (3-0)
LP: Holtzman (2-3)
Save: Sosa (4)
HR: Bonds (4), Kingman (4)

The 1973 Giants knocked off a second straight strong Oakland team, this time holding a World Series champion to 15 runs in the six games, with the majority of those runs coming in one contest.

Catfish Hunter dominated Game One, played in the Oakland-Aldemeda County Coliseum. He held the Giants to two hits in the complete game shutout. He did walk four with six strikeouts. Ron Bryant also had a two-hit complete game, albeit of eight innings. Reggie Jackson homered in the fourth inning, and Bill North tripled to lead off the eighth and scored on a wild pitch. 

Juan Marichal held the A's to one unearned run in 7.1 innings in Game Two as the Giants evened the series. Gary Matthews hit a solo homer and singled in a run to highlight the visitors' offense against Ken Holtzman. Marichal allowed seven singles but no extra base hits or walks. Randy Moffitt relieved with two on and one out in the eighth and got Gene Tenace to ground into a double play, then worked a perfect ninth. All four A's to face Moffitt grounded out to second baseman Tito Fuentes.

The series moved across the Bay to San Francisco for Game Three and the only slugfest of the series. The A's scored three runs in the fourth off Tom Bradley, with Bert Campaneris stealing a pair of bases in the process. Bobby Bonds pulled the Giants within a run in the fifth with a three-run homer off Vida Blue, but Jim Willoughby cracked in the eighth as the A's racked up five runs. The Giants got three back in the bottom of the inning off Paul Lindblad, but that was as close as they got. Blue allowed three runs on five hits in seven innings.

Jim Barr and Elias Sosa combined for a seven-hit shutout in Game Four to again even the series. Barr went seven innings, allowing five hits, and Sosa navigated a pair of leadoff hits in the final two innings. Ed Good doubled in a run in the fourth after Blue Moon Odom walked Matthews with two outs and a passed ball eluded Ray Fosse, and Bonds tripled in a pair in the seventh against Horacio Pina.

Hunter and Bryant matched up in another duel in Game Five, and this time Bryant emerged victorious. Jackson homered in the third for the A's only run. The Giants tied it in the fourth when North misplayed Doug Rader's single to center and Fuentes scored from first on the error. The A's pinch-hit for Hunter in the seventh in an unsuccessful attempt to score a run, and Dave Hamilton held the Giants scoreless in the seventh and eighth innings. But he walked the first two men in the bottom of the ninth. Rollie Fingers relieved, and pinch-hitter Chris Arnold greeted him with a single to the gap that plated Fuentes.

The series returned to Oakland, and Marichal again smothered the A's lineup, this time for 7.2 innings. Dave Kingman hit a two-run homer off Holtzman in the second and Bond added a solo homer in the eighth for a 3-0 lead. Oakland got a run on three singles in the bottom of the inning to chase Marichal, but Sosa popped up Tenace to end the threat. The A's got a single in the ninth, but Sosa promptly got a double play and faced just three men to close out the game and the series.

Player availability: No injuries, and the Giants bullpen will be fullly rested for Round Four.

Projected rotation: Bryant-Bradley-Barr-Marichal-(Bryant)-(Bradley)-(Barr)