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Monday, June 14, 2021 SECTION B Paul Farmer . Sports Editor . 427.6926

Matt Olson homers twice as A’s win series finale

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Baseball’s All-Star Game is in a month. First base in the American League is a top-heavy field. Entering Sunday, four of the league’s top nine hitters in OPS were first basemen. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is having a monster first half for Toronto. No hitter in the majors has matched his production. It does not diminish what Matt Olson is doing for the A’s.

Olson is one of baseball’s most prolific hitters at this point of the season. His struggles of 2020 seem distant. His pace in June has been torrid. Saturday, he collected four hits. Matt Chapman was asked afterward to describe Olson’s season to date. Chapman made a pitch for Olson’s All-Star candidacy.

“It’s no surprise to anybody on our team when he has the success that he has because he puts the work in and obviously the talent is there,” Chapman said. “For Oly, all I can hope for is that he keeps it going and he’s in Denver in July, because I really feel like he deserves that and I feel like he’s been underappreciated for a long time and he’s a stud.”

Olson homered twice more Sunday as the A’s won 6-3 over the Royals. Oakland won the final three games of the series after losing the opener and is a season-high 13 games above .500 at 40-27. Bob Melvin became the 35th manager in major-league history with 1,300 career wins.

Olson’s resurgence has been striking. He compiled a .195/.310/.424 slash line over 60 games in the short 2020 season. In 61 games this year, his line is .289/.374/.610. His 18 home runs and .984 OPS both rank second among AL hitters after Guerrero. His 47 RBIs are tied for fifth-most.

“Every year he should be an All-Star,” A’s starter Chris Bassitt said. “Obviously, Vlad Jr. is having an unbelievable year at first base too so those two are going to have a lot of fun trying to figure out who’s going to start at first base. But I mean, Oly’s no doubt an All-Star.” Chapman and Olson drove Oakland’s offense the past two days hitting in the 2-3 lineup spots. Chapman has homered on backto-back days after going 110 at-bats without one. He thought he had walked in the first inning Sunday, but Royals starter Kris Bubic’s 3-0 pitch was called a strike. Chapman retrieved his bat and lined the next pitch over the left-field wall.

Elvis Andrus lined a 109.8 mph RBI double in the second – his hardest-hit ball of the season, per Statcast – and leadoff hitter Mark Canha had two RBI hits. Olson added two solo home runs off the left-hander Bubic. The first, on a fastball, traveled an estimated 427 feet. He hit a changeup an estimated 422 feet for the

See A’s, Page B8

FRENCH OPEN

Julian Finney/Getty Images/TNS

Novak Djokovic of Serbia reacts in his Men’s Singles Final match against Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece during Day 15 of the 2021 French Open at Roland Garros, Sunday, in Paris, France.

Djokovic fights to 19th grand slam title in epic 5-set triumph

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Novak Djokovic fought from two sets down for the first time in a grand slam final to win the French Open 6-7 (6-8), 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 against Stefanos Tsitsipas on Sunday and move within one of a record-equalling 20 titles at the majors.

World number one Djokovic clinched an epic triumph against a finally tiring opponent in 4 hours 11 minutes on Court Philippe Chatrier in front of an enthusiastic crowd of 5,000 fans allowed in amid the coronavirus restrictions.

The 34-year-old Serb is only the third player to win each grand slam at least twice, joining Australians Roy Emerson and Rod Laver, having also won at Roland Garros in 2016.

Djokovic has won nine Australian Opens, two French Opens, five Wimbledons and three U.S. Opens.

He can tie Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer on 20 trophies at the majors at Wimbledon which starts in a fortnight and where he is the title holder.

Djokovic had reached the final with an amazing four-set triumph over the 13-time winner Nadal which must have taken a big toll on him but he found the energy to fight back on Sunday.

“It has been an unforgettable few moments for me in my life and my career. I will definitely remember these last 48 hours in my life,” said Djokovic after receiving the Coupe des Mousquetaires from six-time tournament winner Bjorn Borg.

Tsitsipas said: “It was a big fight out there, I tried my best. It was a good first time playing here in the finals, I had a good run and I’m happy with myself.”

Greece’s Tsitsipas, who beat Alexander Zverev in five in the semis, started with a double fault into his maiden grand slam final but held serve with three aces after facing two break points, while Djokovic raced through the first three service games of his 29th final at the majors without dropping a point.

Djokovic tumbled to the ground as he chased a drop shot and had to dig deep in the 10th game, saving a first break point which was also set point

See Djokovic, Page B8

Can W’s help Curry without breaking bank? Playoffs suggest its possible

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Pick a saying.

“Can’t buy me love,” or “Money can’t buy happiness.”

Apparently, big dollars are no certain predictor of getting to kiss the Larry O’Brien Trophy at the end of the NBA playoffs, either.

Of the top-10 highest-paid players, only half remain in the league’s conference semifinal round. Of those five, two are sitting on the sideline, injured.

Just don’t tell NBA decisionmakers, who appear ready to keep spending.

Stephen Curry had the league’s top salary in 2020-21 at more than $43 million, but even in a season during which he consistently put himself in the conversation with all-time greats, the Warriors’ point guard couldn’t lead his team beyond the play-in round. So, the Warriors have vowed to find him help.

Phoenix’s Chris Paul has the No. 2 salary at about $41.4 million. He’s got the Suns headed toward the Western Conference finals, even though the franchise posted a winning percentage of just .302 during the five seasons before his arrival.

Paul is the only player among the league’s top six in salary to still be making an impact in the playoffs, a group that also includes Washington’s Russell Westbrook, Brooklyn’s James Harden Houston’s John Wall and the Lakers’ LeBron James.

Nos. 7 and 8 are still surviving the playoff grind: Kevin Durant, who makes just more than $39 million, has Brooklyn leading Milwaukee 2-1; and Paul George, who makes nearly $35.5 million, is down 2-1 to Utah in the West semifinals.

The final two among the NBA’s top-10-paid players are Klay Thompson, who missed the Warriors’ season because of an Achilles injury, and Utah’s Mike Conley, who is sidelined with a hamstring injury that has forced Donovan Mitchell (eighth-highest paid on his team at less than $5.2 million) to score his way into superstardom.

Only five of the next 12 making more than $30 million are still playing: the Clippers’ Kawhi Leonard, Philadelphia’s Tobias Harris and Ben Simmons, Brooklyn’s Kyrie Irving and Milwaukee’s Khris Middleton.

Of the 12 players making $28-$29 million, only three are playing the conference semifinals. Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid, Denver’s Nikola Jokic and Phoenix Devin Booker have been three of the

Giants finish road trip with another offensive dud

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A Giants team that opened a six-game road trip this week with a chance to boost its record against a pair of lastplace clubs is returning home disappointed.

Gabe Kapler’s team went 3-3 against the Rangers and Nationals, but capped off a concerning week at the plate with another offensive dud in a 5-0 loss to Washington on Sunday.

Nationals starter Joe Ross became the first opposing pitcher to complete eight innings against the Giants this season as he held San Francisco to five hits and no walks while striking out nine. Ross entered Sunday’s game with a 4.80 ERA, but the Giants were unable to threaten him as they scored just three runs in their four-game set in Washington, D.C.

“He did do a nice job, I don’t want to take anything away from Ross, he was good,” Kapler said. “With that said, extended beyond today’s game, this entire series hasn’t been our best offensive performance and I think we have a better brand of offense in us.”

Nationals leadoff man Kyle Schwarber crushed a pair of home runs off Giants starter Johnny Cueto, including a solo shot to lead off the first and a three-run home run on an offering was well above the strike zone in the second inning.

The Nationals’ second inning rally started when Washington catcher Alex Avila reached on a groundball that kicked off Cueto’s foot and found a hole in the infield and continued when Cueto was unable to make a routine play on a Victor Robles bunt. The Giants made several mistakes Sunday that could typically be labeled as “uncharacteristic,” but they were the types of miscues that appeared all too frequently throughout the club’s road trip.

After scoring nine runs in a win over Texas to open the trip, the Giants scored six runs over their last five games as veteran starters and role players who have made critical contributions this season all struggled to reach base. The first-place Giants have pointed to their depth as a key component of the hot start that landed them atop the National League West, but after third baseman Evan Longoria hit the injured list last Sunday with a left shoulder sprain, the club hasn’t come close to replicating his All-Starcaliber production.

The Giants did bring first baseman Brandon Belt and outfielder Mike Yastrzemski back from the injured list this week, but neither made the type of overwhelming impact the club needed without Longoria and other regulars such as Alex Dickerson, Tommy La Stella and Darin Ruf in the lineup.

“The more you let it linger, the more you get frustrated and the more you try to do too much,” Yastrzemski said of the series. “We can’t win this game anymore, it’s over, so we can’t go back and do anything and we look to the next one and try to be as good and precise and as disciplined as we can.”

Belt had three hits in Tuesday’s win over the Rangers, but went 0-for-16 with seven strikeouts on the rest of the trip.

“I’m not worried about him from a health perspective and I’m not worried about him from an offensive performance standpoint

See Giants, Page B8