SAN FRANCISCO -- Wilmer Flores did it again.
One day after crushing three home runs to power a Giants’ rout, Flores drew a walk-off walk to help San Francisco eke past the A’s, 1-0, in 10 innings on Saturday night at Oracle Park.
The A’s intentionally walked Mike Yastrzemski to load the bases with two outs for Flores, who was fresh off a career-high eight-RBI performance on Friday night. The 33-year-old veteran went on to do what he does best, working a nine-pitch walk off A’s closer Mason Miller to force in the only run of the game and collect his Major League-leading 42nd RBI of the year.
Flores fouled off two triple-digit fastballs to stay alive in the count and then laid off two tough pitches -- a 2-2 slider and a full-count 102.2 mph heater -- to win his epic battle with Miller and lift the Giants (27-19) to their sixth walk-off win, the most in the Majors.
“Pretty good stuff,” Flores said of Miller. “I was just waiting, hoping to make contact somehow. As the at-bat went longer, I was seeing the fastball a little better. But it’s just a different fastball. I think I was just lucky to foul it off.”
“Wilmer’s at-bat was incredible,” manager Bob Melvin said. “3-2 right there, you know you’re going to get a fastball, and you’re going to have to start really early to get to a guy that’s throwing 103, 104 mph. For him to take that pitch was kind of vintage Wilmer stuff. Even the 2-2 slider -- to lay off that, just an incredible at-bat. So yeah, the right guy at the plate.”
A’s manager Mark Kotsay said he decided to intentionally walk Yastrzemski to bring up Flores because Miller has been tougher on right-handed batters (.264 OPS) than lefties (1.137 OPS) this season, though the gamble ultimately backfired.
“After the strikeout on [Tyler Fitzgerald], we talked about it out there, the matchup with Yaz,” Kotsay said. “Obviously, lefties have done a better job of taking good at-bats against Mason. I had full confidence in him against Flores there. Flores took a good at-bat.”
Flores’ second career walk-off walk ensured the Giants didn’t waste a gem from right-hander Landen Roupp, who matched A’s starter Luis Severino with six scoreless innings on Saturday. Roupp allowed only five hits while walking two and striking out five to record his third quality start of the year and his first since April 19.
Roupp, 26, entered Saturday with the highest curveball usage (42.9%) among qualified starters in the Majors this season, but he wasn’t overly reliant on the pitch against the A’s. Instead, he used a more balanced mix of sinkers (43%), curveballs (36%), changeups (13%) and cutters (7%), helping him deliver the longest scoreless outing of his young career.
“It feels really good to throw up some zeros and come out with zeros on the board,” said Roupp, who lowered his ERA to 4.11 over nine starts in 2025. “I just feel like I mixed it up a lot better tonight. I threw a lot more changeups and cutters and kind of used my curveball as a get-me-out-of-a-jam pitch rather than just throwing it all the time. The two-seam was there, too, so I’m really happy with the way tonight went.”
Roupp fell into trouble after the A’s put runners on the corners with one out in the fourth, but he managed to work out of the jam by getting JJ Bleday to pop out to third and striking out Nick Kurtz looking on a sinker. After executing his pitch against Kurtz, Roupp let out a scream before making his way back to the Giants’ dugout.
“I feel like in recent outings, I kind of either give up a weak hit or give up a home run in that situation, so getting out of that inning with no runs was huge for me,” Roupp said. “It just fired me up a little bit.”
“He looked pretty determined today,” Melvin said. “I think there was a little different look in his eye.”
The Giants’ bullpen kept the dominant pitching going after both starters departed, with Randy Rodríguez (11 pitches), Tyler Rogers (four pitches), Ryan Walker (seven pitches) and Camilo Doval (14 pitches) combining to throw four clean innings to preserve the scoreless tie and set up Flores’ game-winning walk in the bottom of the 10th.
“Unbelievable,” Roupp said. “The guys came in and threw up zeros and gave us a chance to win right there at the end of the game. You can’t ask for any more out of your bullpen after that.”